First raindrop of the great flood
 

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN15383509

Retired school teacher Kathleen Casey-Kirschling on Monday became the first ripple in a "silver tsunami" of retiring baby boomers applying for pension benefits that threatens to overwhelm U.S. government finances.

And now all of the entitlements that FDR promised--and LBJ borrowed from--will come back to destroy us.

The simple fact is that the government does not have the money to pay all it has promised.

If the gov't is willing to repay me for my previous SS contributions and relieve me of making future contributions, I'd gladly opt out and not be a future burden. :)

Time to start indexing this program to inflation and life expectancy.

I'll do you one better.

I will forfeit all of my past contributions and the rights to any future benefits just to not have to contribute any more between now and retirement.

In a heartbeat! Can you imagine?? Or, just turn the system off. "The cutoff for SS benefit eligibility ends if your birthdate is after XYZ, all earners born after this date will not receive benefits. Accordingly, refunds will be issued and no further contributions will be required".

Hell, even cut it down to a small little tax if people want disability available. But screw the whopping ~15% tax.

~FIFTEEN PERCENT!!!! I don't think most people even realize their employers are paying the other side of this burden. Those of you who have been self employed like me know it, though.

Hee, hee, I can't wait to bleed the system dry when I turn 62. By all estimates the fund will still be there for me.

Considering that they keep raising the retirement age, this might be a very good idea. Personally I am not looking at getting a penny from SS but putting away anything and everything I can.

One good thing is that more and more of the "baby boomer" generation are retiring early and many have already retired without being on the federal tit. The bad part of this is that they are not paying a penny into the system, leaving it even worse off than it should be.

Is there a way to do "put" options on the SS fund?

And many of you want these same people in charge of your health care? Mind boggling.

Shhh!

Don't spoil the illusion of competence.

Agreed 100%. Woke up this year and noticed we'd been doing 'good' with our savings thus far, and the nest egg was actually decent sized. Have changed approach from 'good' to 'hyperaggressive' this year and socking away everything possible - will be close to maxed out pre-tax and post-tax on all IRS programs (IRA/401k) next year, and also opening up a brokerage account this year. Aim is to retire as soon as freaking possible. Not expecting a dime from SSA but I sure won't turn it down if there's still anything left in the bottom of the tank when I'm ready.

Huh, self-reliance and initiative for a retirement plan? Go figure, who woulda thunk that one up.

Congress will NEVER refund SS contributions. They are paid out the second they come in.

They will also never let you "opt-out". They need an army of warm bodies to pay in to keep the system afloat. If the contribution side dried up, the pay out side would stop too. The SS "surplus" has been spent going back to the days of LBJ. There's no money there.

Well duh...they do such a good job of running the DMV, why not the hospitals ;)

Of course. But, as a Republican, I am eternally optimistic and hopeful.

As long as there are more than 40 Democrats in the Senate, nothing will be done about SS.

It's amazing how none of us knows anyone who has any faith in SSA, none of us are planning our retirement around it and yet no politician will admit it's a huge failure and about to get worse. Talk about a disconnect.

?, why can Postal workers opt out.I know they have a pension plan..which does more than ss.
Rika

I would opt at this time out even if they didn't repay me.

It seems to be conventional wisdom (even here on OT) that the system is broken, but why the lack of support to do something about it when Bush brought it up a few years ago? You'd think there would have been an immigration-bill-style uprising from the people to get the politicians to do something about it.