"James" wrote in message

The monies collected in FICA taxes/contributions has ALWAYS gone directly
into the US Treasury. It's not like they were put into a bank, somewhere.
The collected funds were spent to pay for programs of the Federal
government. (The Social Security Administration does not collect FICA,
the
IRS does. SSA operates on Congressional approved appropriations just like
every other federal agency).

We debated this very practice 42 years ago, in High School government class.


Did that help explain the problems?

Just like most forms of "insurance", a merry-go-round you can't stop, or get
off of.

As a knee-jerk conservative, I have a natural inclination towards
privatization of Social Secuity...UNTIL one considers the mechanics of
such
a process. Somewhere along the line, BILLIONS of dollars in investment
funds PER MONTH, would end up under the directions of a relatively few
bureaucrats/investment counselers. The potentional for corruption
internally, and scams externally, will be immense.

I am with you 100% on all the above. My youngest daughter's college fund,
despite careful and professional attention, lost almost 70% of its value in
the last four years, just as she needed it ... surprise, surprise!

My predictions, and IMHO, they are not as wild as they might seem at first
glance....are

SS benfits will be "means tested". If you a lottery winner, or a
successful
and frugal wage earner, you'll never collect a dime in SS benefits.

The covered retirment age will (again) be raised, probably ending up,
somewhere around 71 or 72.

The reductions assessed for "early retirment" will be increased.

Some classes of beneficiaries (dependent grandparents????) will be
restricted and eventually de-entitled. (De-entitled?? Is there such a
word?)

Cost-of-living formulas, (that currently determine rate increases every
year) will be re-computed to reflect proportionally smaller increases
(Such
things as new-housing costs will be excluded from the formula, under the
belief that very few 72 year old people buy new houses.)
Some portion of an individual's (probably less than 10%) will be
"privatized" via 401K-type plans. NOTE: While taxes maybe be delayed,
eventually the government WILL collect taxes on those "earnings".

Full-blown, stay at home and never-lift-a-finger retirements, are already
decreasing as a percentage of the total population. The trend to
part-time
and reduced income work for seniors, will continue to increase.

None of which will likely apply to congress critters, Todd.

Having been self-employed my entire life, I will continue to "work" until I
drop ... but I would do it anyway because my work is, and always has been,
things that I take a passionate interest in.

And for a really big prediction.
How many people will be able to guess where I worked for 30 years? Grin

James...
BTW, Civil Service Retirements, Veteran's Retirements (etc) are all in the
same catagory.

Excellent post! Thank you!

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Last update: 2/28/04