Should we privatize Social Security?

Assume for arguments sake that you (or your company) have no vested professional interest in this question. Would you prefer to have a private system like Australia where your retirement savings depend on how much you choose to save plus how well you invested, or the current US system? I for one would so prefer a private system similar to Australia…I know it would be expensive to convert the US system given all the existing retirees and near retirees, but we should start transitioning now.

NIH.

Often privatization never pans out as initially planned once put into practice. It’s also something of a doomed mission because we’re so underfunded that any plan of any sort is destined to result in blaming, infighting and eventual implosion. In the impossible event a plan was reached, it would rely on lofty unrealistic assumptions, bogus math and probably some shady lobbying.

The correct time to privatize anything is when things are going well and you are entering set up to succeed. Unfortunately that basically never happens.

Negative externalities, industry lobbying, and manipulation…is unfortunately the American way.

The SS system is in bad shape, but it will only get worse, the gov’s own economist predict the system will be broke by 2034, which ain’t that far from my own retirement goals. Federal workers, teachers, cops, fireman…are already exempt from FICA and their pensions for the most part are in better shape and more generous. Yes I know some public sector pensions are an underfunded disaster. The only reasonable way to avoid collapse is to increase contribution levels, but I would so much rather put that into my Vanguard account and invest in something.

Yes they have a minimum contribution amount, I think that’s good. Was supposed to go to 11% but hasn’t gone through yet. I don’t think Aus system is perfect by any means, but I like it that my retirement savings are being in invested in actual assets and might appreciate. And if I want to save more, I can put it into the same account…don’t need more accounts…that i then have to report to my compliance department.

are you suggesting privatized taxation? social secuirty is basically a forced annuity at an aggregate level for the entire population.

you force everyone who works to pay for it, invest the excess, then dish out money to those that have retired.

the profits for the privatezed company will either be the excess premiums or the profits from the excess reserves they accumulate through risk taking or overcharging.

anyways i am in favor of social security. it keeps the peace. reduces the homeless. also people are financially illiterate. the problem though is people are living longer and the demographic age distribution has shifted with more older people so fica taxes need to be ramped up, we need to remove the cap in taxes for rich people, retirement dates need to be extended, and the people who receive it should be limited to people who have lived here for a set amount of years.

social security is not really insolvent. there is plenty of wiggle room to fix the problem just by raising taxes.

Yeah, I think Malee you’re looking at what you’d like, which is fair, but realistically, SS is more for people who otherwise can’t or won’t save. Probably not how it should be, but sort of the reality of it.

Ideally, yes, we should force people into something like QDIA options. We’d have to keep it as idiot proof as possible though. In practice, the biggest hurdle is SS is America’s piggy bank. If we privatized it, the government wouldn’t be able to constantly borrow from it (which they shouldn’t anyway), not to mention they’d have to put the money back that’s current funding other stuff. That ain’t happening.

Social Security is the absolute easiest entitlement to fix. Any of us here could do the math. You raise the eligibility age a few years and all the sudden we’re fully funded. Wow. That was hard.

But, hey, let’s all give a big shout out to everyone’s favorite president, FDR, for showing how poorly socialist leaning policies work out in the long run.

I social security an income tested benefit?

In Canada, the Old Age Security is income tested - so if your total net income is over $77k then OAS is clawed back at a rate of 15 cents per dollar, full claw back just under $126k.

social security is not such a bad idea. would you rather old or disabled people starve? imo they should expand the idea to ubi. everyone should have a minimum amount of money per day, enough to cover food. even 5 dollars a day for every american. or roughly 2k a year would be sufficient. give every american citizen a debit card, and to require them to spend only in the us.

320m*2000 = 640b

honestly some homeless people will live much better lives if they improved hygiene. the government should give them 5 bucks daily if they promise to shower every day!

Nerdy, I have to congratulate you on the personal growth, you made it several posts in this time before you started talking about ubi. Marriage really has changed you.

Thanks man! I also stopped being a fuck boy!

Lol, I was thinking the same thing. Remarkably coherent posts by Nerdy.

I get what you and BS are saying, and those are good points. I am not suggesting eliminate SS, but rather go to a mandatory savings system…but one where the assets are invested for growth. And if possible keep the assets as part of my estate…

Honestly I’d say 50 percent of Americans cannot save as they do not make much money. If we force them to save they’d just go deeper into debt. Like all things social security will require the rich to subsidize it for it to work.

i like the australian system, even helps the low iq folks

social security is a ponzi scheme