If you say that I know nothing about investing... and there are millions of Americans just like me.... then you just described the REASON FOR SOCIAL SECURITY!
Americans shouldn't depend on SS for their entire retirement income, but instead it's as a base to grow their retirement investments.
People DO DEPEND on Social Security because they believe they can live off of it. Millions DON'T SAVE and live their whole life day to day, because they believe in Social Security to support them...Obamacare was sold the same way...EVERYBODY WILL HAVE HEALTH CARE, DON'T WORRY ABOUT A THING...Somebody else will pay for your medicine...These programs that promote government dependency are marketed so people put their faith in it...That's how they pass. It isn't called Retirement Supplementary Income - it's called SOCIAL SECURITY. Same with Obamacare, it's called Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. They purposely promote these things knowing people will change their lifestyles in a way that will make them completely dependent on the government. It is sad.
Many with out " FAMILY, FRIENDS, OR CHARITY", didn't survive.
How many? All through the 80's we heard about old people on a 'fixed income' eating cat food so they can afford medicine. I guess social security wan't working so good then.
The elderly are just one of the groups used as a pawn for the totalitarian to justify the dependency on government.
God forbid people realized they could take care of themselves and their community without big government and actually do a better job of it.
Before SS was invented and implemented, Americans could invest in the stock market or where ever they wanted, to save for their retirement... No one forced them to pay into a system or get a diminished return. How did that work??? It didn't. Elderly Americans, ESPECIALLY ELDERLY WOMEN, lived in poverty, dependent on charity, family or friends to survive.
Those "smaller govt" addicts, who think that THEY can invest their money better than the govt can, should look to the recent Bush Economic Meltdown and consider how they would have made out if their entire retirement depended on thestock market.
Americans have always had, and still do have the opportunity to invest for their retirement. Many Americans invest in 401K's or similar tax deferred investments aimed at retirement. The Truth IS... before SS the majority of elderly Americans lived in poverty. Consider this: Without Social Security, 52.6 percent of all elderly women were below the poverty line in 1997. Social Security reduced the poverty rate for elderly women from 52.6 percent to 14.7 percent. It reduced the number of elderly poor women from 9.8 million to 2.7 million. Among elderly men, Social Security lowered the poverty rate from 40.8 percent to 8.2 percent. The program reduced the number of elderly men living in poverty from 5.5 million to 1.1 million.
With out SS, many Americans would invest for their retirement, but fail when their investments go badly or return little, especially in a poor investment climate of today. With the rash of recent investment scams many Americans would have nothing for retirement.
the women were in poverty because they stayed home barefoot and pregnant......
and the poverty level depends on the cost of goods which changes.....so SS always requires an increase.....I dont see any rollback coming....does anyone else.....
during remodeling a couple of rooms in the house I found newspapers and the cost of items are nothing compared to now....I know it could all be relative but where does value fit in?
home values/IRA values/401k/pension/SS/medicare AND payrolls.........
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
How many healthy folks aged 62 do you think are now collecting SS when in fact they never planned to until full retirement age? When obama kept extending the unemployment benefits.....those 60 somethings, all asked for layoffs so they could take their unemployment benefits AND their SS!! They knew they had a free ride for 2 years on the working taxpayer's dime!!!
Let's flip the coin over and check out the stats on that one!!!!!!!!!!!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler