Ayn Rand and Social Security
Posted by overmanwarrior 9 years, 8 months ago to Government
Social Security was a stupid idea, and it never should have been enacted. It is an insult to stick the government in between Americans and their so-called retirements. I resent every deduction taken from my paycheck as a theft stolen from me, because the government will never be in a position to pay me back all the money I have “invested” under coercion. I have personal friends who hate Social Security so badly they have essentially given up their citizenship over the issue. One of those friends had began plotting his deferral from the Social Security system in the 5th grade—no kidding. He was a very smart kid and while the other kids were talking about the rock band KISS and the new show on television called The Dukes of Hazzard, he was planning on how to legally refuse his obligations toward Social Security. As an adult, he gave up his citizenship after years of legal entanglement—but—he doesn’t pay into the system, because as he was always right, Social Security is stolen money not granted by an infant when they are issued a card after being registered by their parents. His argument was that his parents didn’t have a right to commit him to a life obligation into such a contract with the government.
Previous comments...
If and I say IF it had been implemented as it had been sold to the people, and maintained as such, The money pulled from your income would have been placed in YOUR account and you would draw based ONLY on what YOU put in.
Galveston TX. The ONLY place to actually implement properly.
Having said that when the US Government decided to start writing IOU's (Clinton Era to "balance budgets") Social Security breathed it death sigh.
BUT, having said all that, my root belief is we should be responsible 100% for our financial security, and ONLY each of us, so if we starve it is OUR fault only. (Ant and Grasshopper)
It was a simple study based on sound investment principles, and studied what you could have at 65 if you took your average SS "contribution" starting at the beginning of your working career, and put it into it in a very safe investment earning maybe 3%. Given compound interest etc., the study showed you would have a nest egg of at least $1M, and this is where my memory fails me, it may actually have been a significantly higher number.
No wonder at the time of it's original implementation, attempts to pass legislation allowing you to substitute or "opt out" of SS were fought so hard and defeated.
On your main point, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. I can only say along with the author of the main post is that, regardless of the fact that there really is no "Social Security Trust Fund", the fact remains that you contributed money that were deemed "not taxes", that you would get back someday, and I believe that is right that you should (even if it doesn't approach what you put into it).
To use a slightly different, shorter term example: if on April 15th you filed your income taxes and found you had "overpaid", would you not expect your refund back?
But to return to your other point, I think we need to figure out a reasonable plan for younger people to opt out of Social Security, actually, suspend it altogether and advise them to find an alternative, while still keeping the obligation to pay benefits to those who contributed to the program, and are too old for "opting out" to mean anything to them. And some point, Social Security would no longer exist, and the principle of people providing for their own old age would be restored.
Of course the idea of us "borrowing it from China" isn't exactly true. We soaked up all the investable money and had to start printing money (quantitative easing) to keep spending -- at least 4.5 trillion worth.
I suppose we could just print money to give out as social security checks. The public can't even tell the difference between debt and deficit anymore.
I never heard of Ayn Rand until the first AS flick came out.
I even called her "Ann" up until the second AS movie.
OK, who wants to hurt my precious little feelings?
Saw The Fountainhead too.
I may be retired but I have a lot of distractions.
Believe it or not, I'm trying to write my own novel.
What is the theme of your book?
It started off to be an escapist action novel until I began to research more about the setting in the Walloon half of Belgium.of Aug, 1914.
Their French invasion timetable set back, the Imperial German Army had really become PO'd over Belgian resistance when they thought size would bully a cakewalk through that kingdom.
Terrible atrocities were committed against Belgians in several cities and Belgians were even forced to be human shields during marches.
So I wound up writing a far more bloody and horrific novel than originally intended.
It has a plot with subplots. The main plot is about a retired French general who inherited a chateau in near a real town called Neer where he breeds racing and military horses. The fifth of eight children is the only girl, now 16, who has a photographic memory and some related mental problems named Babette. .
A neurotic overgrown stallion named Demon will only let Babette ride it. Crazy gets along well with crazy. She escapes on Demon when the boche sack the horse ranch, her father telling Babette to ride to France and seek out an uncle, who will be a traitorous villain in the first sequel. (That's also written but all of it needs more work)
The Germans give chase because they think making her a hostage would give them leverage as they interrogate her father and five of her brothers (#1 bro a cuirassier and #2 a priest in France). The sad thing is that Papa and his boys do not know anything.
They chase Little Red to Dinant where Babette fails to rescue the little sister of her already murdered best friend. There she sees many men, women and children murdered by firing squads.
Then she's chased back from Dinant. Babette tries to go back home in hopes of saving her family.
Let's just say repeated tragedies begin to transform her character.
Here's a link about Dinanat. Click onto the photos to see awesome sights. Also check out the 675 people executed.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinant.
Welcome to the Gulch!
I have the feelings of a wah-wah hatchling, though.
Not really. I just thought it amusing to write that.