Why is Social Security controversial? What are some of the ideas for solving problems with Social Security?

Question

Why is Social Security controversial? What are some of the ideas for solving problems with Social Security?

Answer 1

The biggest issue is that Social Security paid for by the people who are presently employed.  And the money is running out.  There is simply too much money paid out in Social Security benefits and not enough project receipts.

I expect that Social Security will be broke when my turn comes around.

Answer 2

The FairTax is one idea.  H.R. 25  /S.R. 1025.  Under the FairTax, even the rich who live off capital gains and do not currently pay into the system would pay.  Even illegal aliens who currently do not pay, would pay.

Answer 3

Refer to my course syllabus on the topic of Plagiarism.

Answer 4

One of the biggest reasons there is so much controversy is that some people in the press will give you startling but misleading facts.  They'll tell you that if things continue the way they are now, that there will be no social security fund left in thirty years.  This is ignoring the obvious--that Congress can tweak a few things and get it right back on track.  

Some people feel that social security is wrong in the first place--that the government should never have started this tax, and that instead people should have been saving that money themselves for their old age.  This ignores the fact that we aren't going to coldly turn seniors who didn't plan that well or ran into some bad luck out into the streets to die--so we'll be paying for them one way or another and the best way may be to force them to save for themselves by taxing them.  

Then you have people wondering why a government program should be handling all that money, and why it can't be replaced by a law that requries retirement savings, but leaves people free to choose how they invest this savings.  On the one hand, social security is very efficient (especially for a government program), as 99% of the money they bring in is paid out to the people.  On the other hand, when the economy is booming, social security invests in laughably safe investments, and could have made more money by taking more risks.  A side reason that SSA doesn't invest in stocks is that it has an incredible amount of money and would have tremendous influence on the market--which would put the government in a really strange role--it wouldn't be socialism, but the government would own an awful big chunk of our country's business and that power could be misused.

Answer 5

It's a survival of unemployment and senior people in medical services.