Social Security?
A huge topic in the news lately with no signs of going away any time soon is this big issue with social security. I don't know enough about it, but to help myself I am going to put down my limited understanding, and if anyone reads this and has a better understanding, please give me better information.
So Social Security is a government program that takes money out of your check every pay period and then when you retire, you get that money back. Or rather, you get some money. I assume that everyone gets an equal share back, regardless of how much they put in. So rich people who paid a lot won't get any more back than poor people who paid very little.
However, I guess that the money being put into the system is being used to pay out now, so that when the baby-boomers retire the working population will not be able to support them. But many figures say that this sort of crisis will not happen for a while, so I am not sure if this is related to the big fuss.
Apparently George Bush proposes to take part of the money paid into social security, and invest in in the style of mutual funds. The idea being that we could make the money work for us, instead of just sitting around, and the economy gets the bonus of increased investment. The downside is that investment means risk, and makes social security less secure?
again not really sure so I would appreciate a lesson.
It seems strange that Bush and the republicans, traditionally for minimalist government, should want the government in control of the peoples money. aight, perhaps I will read up on the issue and give a concrete opinion in the matter.
Also I have heard that payment to social security is capped at incomes around 90,000 so there is a limit to how much you have to pay. The socialist in me says make the rich keep paying, hell, they can afford it.
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