social security

Social Security What’s the Future? April , 2005Patrick Nelson Caster Yourfuturesadvocate@yahoo.comThe Social Security ScamBush using another scam tactic to benefit himself and the rich First we would have to examine the past to fully appreciate the present situation and understand the future for Social Security. In 1974, 61% of SS benefits paid out were to those over the age of 65, and the rest went to the disabled and their dependents. Now, only around 29% of Americans are collecting SS solely based on age for benefits. Social Security is not mainly a retirement plan anymore; it is more a plan to help the disabled and their dependents. Many people are under the impression that Social Security should be there to pay them when they’re older, because they paid in. But it was designed for the benefit of society as a whole, and not for the individual. All U.S. citizens should pay a percentage of their income to SS, without a limit over which you don’t have to pay any more. For instance, In 1965, over 30% of U.S. citizens had income over the cap. Here in 2005, it’s only 5% who make over today’s $87,000 cap and pay 0% to SS on any income over that. Yet we could still recover in one year, if the rich would only pay their fair share. Why should the poor have to pay more of a percentage of their small income than the rich do? The common person is paying 7.65%, as is your employer. This really means that you are paying 14.3% (more than your fair share) of your gross income for Social Security. According to the Social Security Administration, our debt will be $3.7 trillion in 75 years. In 2003, over 168,000 people claimed over one million dollars in taxable income. If you take the SS $87K cap (which shouldn’t exist anyway) – and moved it to one million dollars – in one year, Social Security would be solvent (meaning stable) for around 250 years. If the millionaires only paid 7.65% (half of the rest of us), we would have almost $13 trillion extra in one year. Imagine what would happen if we all were equal in the eyes of the government. Just think of what could be done for the U.S. and its people with this money. How about a rail system or public transportation system like Europe? (oops, sorry, this would only benefit the ordinary person, not the rich, so that won’t be done). This is basic high school math. The people we elected should at least be able to accomplish that. I think they’ve accomplished beyond this by working out how to get most for them and their fellow rich without thinking for the people who are paying their exorbitant salaries. The U.S. median income was $32,460 in 2002 for a family and $13,190 for an individual and yet we see politicians getting hundreds of thousands of dollars.So what exactly is President Bush’s real scam? Using his plan, he will have the average American trying to put what they can into the stock market in hopes of retirement and who says that will be there when we retire? What it really does is invest money in the stock market to make the economy look as though it’s booming. This puts more money into large companies and towards the rich people trying to control your life and future. At the same time this is making the President appear as though he has improved the economy, using political smoke and mirrors to produce a magical deception to the average American.http://www.irs.gov/taxstats/article/0,,id1028.html Signed: Your Future’s Advocate