The Nation’s Retirement System Needs a Comprehensive Re-evaluation says the GAO

Yes, I’m calling this a myth.  For the following reasons:

  • An excellent retirement system called Social Security was designed by Francis Perkins and her committee back in the 1930’s right after the preventable debacle of the Great Depression began.
  • That excellent system has been under attack ever since it was conceived, primarily by people who just can’t stand for other people to have happiness; it’s not enough that they’ve “won” the wealth game, everyone else must also lose.
  • The majority of workers are willing to pay the taxes necessary to fully and indefinitely fund benefits.  It is a myth that there are only two workers to pay the necessary benefits for each retiree; 25% of beneficiaries keep working and paying taxes.  Reagan lied about this clear back in 1981 as he severely slashed benefits, saying there were only 3.2 workers for every beneficiary.
  • Every other industrialized nation in the world has a livable pension for its seniors
  • If we could first solve the pernicious problem of mertiless accumulation of vast wealth and power we could design an efficient and effective healthcare delivery system, leaving trillions of dollars on the table for Social Security enhancement.  And enhancement is what it needs:  reduce full retirement age back to 65, eliminate taxes on benefits for all who earn less than median income, and eliminate the cap on Social Security taxable income.

Read the report yourself here at http://www.gao.gov/assets/690/687797.pdf

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