Wednesday, May 18, 2005

Social Security's proponents.

There were many comments on my recent Social Security post (and by "many" I mean "more than two"). I wanted to respond a little.

Garou wrote:
I do find it. . . disturbing that AARP is weighing in on this issue. The minimum age for membership in AARP is 55, and the SS "crisis" occurs in about 40 years. In other words, the people who are least likely to be affected by any changes are trying to prevent changes.
That's a good point, but it's also true that they're the people with the most experience with the issue. Most of them probably are concerned about their own checks above all, but probably some of them are concerned about their children. Their concern comes from experience in matters we can understand on paper but have yet to face personally. It's like veterans taking an interest in the next war. True, they won't fight in it themselves, and things have changed since they were in uniform, but their perspective is not without merit.

Frankly, I think the issue of Social Security affects more people in America than a lot of the other things we wrangle about.

Lee wrote:
The AARP has been doing the right thing in that regard with it's commercials on the topic. Seen it? A plumber says he must tear down the house to fix the kitchen sink.
I saw it (and a criticism of it), but I'm a little surprised it had that much impact. Maybe it was more pervasive than I thought, but I figured it would be drowned out by presidential droning.

1 comment:

Garou said...

No comments yet? OKay, I see your point about those with experience with the system having a valid input. But, experience alone should not be the only deciding factor, and, since they will likely not be directly affected, this is an issue where my voice should count more than theirs. I want to see some changes to the system - not as radical as some, perhaps, but I'd like to see the system become more flexible, with more options - right now, you have two: pay into it, or don't - and the latter means that you are a public servant, and generally have a better retirement plan than SS anyway.

I'd also like to see SS stop being a "Pay-as-you-go" setup. That's one of the reasons for a lack of long-term solvency - unless the birthrate spikes, at some point, there simply will not be enough workers paying into the system to support all the retirees.