Thoughts on Social Security

October 30, 2009

Some conservative commentators have remarked that since government employees are to receive a 2% pay increase, Social Security recipients should be receiving a COLA increase.

Of course I don't approve of the increase in federal employee salaries at this time. However, as to Social Security, if it worked like any other pension fund into which a person and his or her employer pays, there would never have been COLAs. An individual (and the employer unless the individual is self-employed) would pay a given amount or percentage into an account each pay period. That account would be held in trust in the individual's name and invested in (hopefully) a conservative, prudent way. When the individual retires, he or she could draw out ONLY the amount that he or she (and the employer if applicable) contributed plus what the account earned through investments. Payments would not be adjusted for inflation, just as private pension accounts or annuities are not adjusted for inflation. People could not draw out any more than they (and the employer) put in plus interest earned on the account. If a person did not pay into Social Security, he or she would have NO account to draw from on retirement. The Social Security fund would NOT be used to fund other programs.

Unfortunately, the Social Security (so-called) trust fund was a disguised welfare plan from, I believe, its inception and subsequent legislation has taken it farther and farther from what people understood its original intent to be: an individually funded pension plan. The name "Social Security" should have given citizens a clue, but then in the 1930s I think that people were not yet aware of the trend toward a socialization of our government.

My point of view, though I believe accurate, will not be popular with many, especially those who refer to themselves as "senior citizens," setting themselves apart as a group from the general population. I totally respect our elders for their experience, the wisdom they have gained through the years and because it is part of my cultural tradition to respect the "old ones," the grandfathers and grandmothers. It is sad that many of our elder citizens today fail to show respect for themselves, mock themselves and one another with tasteless jokes, and all too often play into a media promoted stereotype which sees them as dependent, and by implication a burden.

It is also sad that more and more groups within our American society also see themselves in a similar way. This is one of the very unfortunate consequences of the socialization of America and the growth of government programs that make once proud citizens either actually wards of the government or makes them perceive themselves in that way.   ~~~   S. Lane