Oregon Students' Take on SS Reform
March 28th 12:07:14 AM
Last week when there was all the DeMint Budget Amendment #489 excitement, I sent out a flurry of emails to students here in Oregon, trying to get them to call Senator Smith and encourage him to vote YES on Senator DeMint’s amendment.
It was interesting to see the responses and questions that some of the students had, not just about the “Stop the Raid” amendment, but about Social Security in general. One student was very concerned about the transition costs that would result from changing the system to one that included Personal Retirement Accounts. The student acknowledged that indeed, our generation can’t count on Social Security and that it would be nice for something to be done, but was hesitant to latch on to what S4 advocates for -- Personal Retirement Accounts -- because of the costs necessary to make it happen.
I think, as fiscally responsible citizens, we SHOULD be concerned about ANY of our government’s spending -- whether it's entitlement programs or pork barrel projects or whatever! That being said, there are incredibly huge structural problems facing Social Security, which to me, make me compelled to get the system fixed ASAP -- because the longer we wait really just compounds the problems and in the long run SCREWS our generation even more!
What are these structural problems that make me willing to accept any initial transition costs of implementing a system of PRA’s ??
Well, first…the fact that we have no ownership rights to the money we pay into Social Security is NOT COOL. It's really REALLY messed up that we are FORCED to pay into a retirement program that doesn’t even technically have to give us ANYTHING in return. You can thank the Supreme Court in 1960 for this little SS fact. The government is under no sort of contract to pay us back. That’s just another downside to a pay-as-you-go system like we currently have. Honestly, who in their right mind would decide ON THEIR OWN to participate in this sort of retirement program? No one.
Another HUGE structural problem with our nation’s system of Social Security is the fact that there is no ownership. Yes, you need to be up in arms about this one b/c if you happen to pass away before reaching the glorious age of 65 then tough luck for you! The thousands of dollars you paid into the system throughout your working career are…well, no where NEAR your family or anyone that really deserves it. The money in essence disappears. This is why PRA’s would be so rockin!! Instead of that money simply disappearing…it would be a sort of nest egg that can be passed on to other family members. AMAZING, I know.
Lastly, the biggest problem with our current system of Social Security is that there is no CHOICE. In an age where I am striving to be an independent, self-reliant person, the fact that I am FORCED to participate in such a blatantly UNFAIR system really torques my wrench. As a liberty-loving individual, I would appreciate the government at least letting me have more say in what such a huge chunk of my taxes are going towards every paycheck!!
So, to the student concerned about the initial transition costs of implementing PRA’s, I say: Ownership, choice and inheritability out weigh those initial transition fees. Not only because these upfront costs are less than what it would cost in the long run to solve the problem, but more importantly b/c of all the AMAZING things that will come of this overblown government entitlement program. All fiscally economic, liberty-loving individuals should get on board with this. Seriously.
Posted by Evan Dent
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