Social security

[debidoo]

My gosh who knows.  I can't imagine it, don't even want to think about it.  I'm still overwhelmed by the fact that my 57 year old husband who was on disability passed away 1/23/13 and I found out I get none of his social security (guess it just gets "donated" to the SS Adm) because my disability check was a little higher than his. Got me to thinking, how many people die after collecting little of their social sec and that all gets absorbed into the system?

[marciaenglish]

I sure hope not!  My husband is retired and draws his social security!

[ejholt]

I hope he don't.   I am on SS and still have to work just to get by.  Why don't the president cut his own pay.  He is rich anyway.  Why do they always want to cut the little people that don't make enough to get by own.  They don't have to send money to other countries till they have enough money in the USA to take care of the seniors.  That is my thought.  Hope everyone has a wonderful week and may God bless each of you and keep you safe.

[inertia4]

It's not the president that wants to cut social security. It is the republicans that want to cut it and do away with it.

[sherryinutah]

I choose to be optimistic about everything.  I'm grateful for everything I have now and I have faith that everything will be just fine in my future.

Living in fear or being pessimistic isn't an option, for me.    

[sdenimandlace1]

I hope to retire in 3 years. trying to get some things in line that will help when I retire.  I hope we stil have it when I retire.

[lvstephanie]

The proposal that President Obama has in his proposed budget does not specifically target Social Security. Rather his proposal would change how inflation is calculated which in turn adjusts how much Social Security's cost of living adjustment (COLA) increases each year and determining COLA's in other government programs as well as making changes to the tax code. Thus this proposed change would help alleviate the deficit problem by decreasing the amount of increase to government benefits and also increasing the amount of revenue gained in income taxes.

The proposal would change the calculation of inflation from using the standard consumer price index (CPI) to what is known as the Chained-CPI. Basically the Chained-CPI tries to more accurately adjust for consumer's actions when the price of a particular item increases. The standard CPI does this by using a lower-level substitution factor. For example, if the price of Granny Smith apples increases, people may change their purchasing habits by opting to buy Red Delicious apples instead. This lower-level substitution assumes that the consumer will make substitutions in their purchases among items in the same, low-level category (in the previous example, the low-level category being the variety of apples). However consumers won't necessarily just make substitutions in a particular category, but may opt to make a substitute with an item in a more general, higher-level category or a "mixed basket". So instead of making a substitution on the variety of apple, a consumer may decide instead to purchase pears (a higher-level "fruit" substitution) to the same increase in Granny Smith prices. The standard CPI does not take this higher-level substitution into account whereas the chained-CPI does, thereby making its calculation more in line with actual rates of inflation. By comparing the standard CPI vs the chained CPI in calculating inflation found that the standard CPI overestimated inflation by about 1%, so changing to this new method for inflation calculations would decrease the rate of growth for certain government programs.

[bowrunner]

The above post is correct but the disability part of SS is what is causing it to go broke.  People are getting doctors to say they are disabled when they are not so they can go on it.  As soon as their unemployment runs out they go on SS disability.  A great percentage of them are not disabled at all.  Eventually it will destroy the SS system.

[ghunter]

I don't think that will ever happen.  Presidents for years have said they will cut SS, but I agree they may keep putting the age up for full retirement.  I am still not happy because I still have a few years before I reach 62, not to mention 65.

[bobes915]

As others have stated, the reality is that it is not economically tenable in its current form.  Medicaid is going to go bankrupt earlier, but both will need to be reformed.  Whether this administration can get it together is another matter entirely.  On that issue, I would personally be very surprised to see any meaningful progress on that front in the next 4 years.   

[bremer51]

SS probably won't be around forever, but I don't think they will cut it for current recipients.  My mother would not make it without her SS.
People definitely MUST their own plan for retirement income.

[BlackSheepNY]

I think it ridiculous to cut Social Security.  Why aren't they looking in to the mega fraud of "Disability?"  There are so many people on disability that are snowing the system, it ain't funny.  If they cut out those who are defrauding Disability, they might be able to save some money.  There are many more seniors today due to the Baby Boomers.  These people have worked all their lives and paid in to Social Security so that they would have something to survive on come their old age.  Our government needs to wake up and quit robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Cut out all of these departments that are doing nothing for this country - the FED, the Department of Education, the EPA, etc.  But of course, they won't.  This administration's goal is to make everyone in this country DEPENDENT upon the government and, with dependency, comes even more of Obama-Lama-Ding-Dong's "socialism."

[o2bnocn]

I think its a possibility. I also think any help, or benefits could be cut in today's economy. it's sad.

[ancmetro]

     What is wrong with Social Security?  Some are rich, very rich...while others are poor, very poor!

[rusgiftsaolcom]

I'm hearing two different things, on one hand I hear they won't touch social security and on the other hand I hear that it will eventually come to an end. I don't know what to believe.