On Dec 19, 5:25 am, Tim Daneliuk wrote:
Fred the Red Shirt wrote:
SNIP

We both also know that individuals living on welfare are an
insignificant voting block, and are not a significant source of
campaign funding either.

The number of older people extracting more from the system than
they ever put is large and growing. They are every bit the
same as the putative "welfare" recipients, they just don't like
being told so.


I realize that is the socialist perspective and I reject it.

First of all, any retirement plan functions like insurance,
some claimants get more than they put in while others
get less. Social Security was running a surplus up until
the time that LBJ convinced the Congress to merge it into
the General Fund, even without investing the money.

Social Security has become a Ponzi scam only because the
Feds managed it like Ponzi. Had it been managed responsibly,
there would be no problem.

People retiring today have spent a lifetime paying into their
SSA, or in some cases being married to someone who has.
Had that money been invested, as any good retirement fund
should be, there would be no problem. Their current situation
is quite analogous to that of a person who paid into a private
retirement plan and had their balance embezzled by the
management. They expect nothing more than would be
available were it nor for the gross malfeasance of the Federal
Government, holding the malfeasor responsible for it.

Whether or not the operation of such a mandatory retirement plan
falls within the Constitutional authority of the Federal Government
is an entirely separate matter.

Oh, and they (the elders) are *the* voting block. I have no idea
if they contribute to political campaigns.


I expect they do.

--

FF