Social Security

[MrJonno]

Social Security (US) = state pensions for the rest of the world doesnt it?

Social security (rest of the world) = welfare (US)

[Seth]

Social Security (US) = state pensions for the rest of the world doesnt it?

Social security (rest of the world) = welfare (US)

Well, not really. Nominally, your SS benefits are linked to what you paid in over your lifetime. If you don't pay anything (or enough) in, you don't get benefits or your monthly benefits are reduced. I, for example, have not worked enough in a SS taxable job to qualify for any benefits. I planned it that way very carefully, knowing that it was a giant Ponzi scheme, since I was 21. I'm fine with that.

It's one thing for government to mandate "enforced" retirement savings, which is how SS was touted by FDR when the program was foisted off on us. I don't have a problem with government saying "you must put aside 7 percent of your weekly paycheck in a retirement account to provide for your welfare when you retire so that you don't become a burden on the public in your old age." What I have a problem with is THE GOVERNMENT holding and administering all that money, and government paying more in benefits than people contributed over their lifetime and expecting other people to make up the inevitable deficit that occurs when someone lives longer than the actuaries think they will and they are entitled to a lifetime of SS benefits.

Government has a legitimate power to require people to provide for themselves by mandating retirement savings. Government has NO legitimate power to take the wealth of one person and redistribute it to another person to provide for their retirement.

[MrJonno]

Contribution based and income based social security/welfare in the UK.

You get a contribution based welfare payments for a limited period which don't take into account savings or other income. When that expires you can get a lower level of welfare only if you have no savings (but are still required to prove you are looking for work).

Never been unemployed long enough to require income based benefits and to be honest when that happens the country is probably as screwed as I am

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I was watching "24 Hours in the ER" last night and got a bad case of the giggles. I saw nobody go through there that had to spend any time at all with the Insurance Lady, that demon that haunts every Emergency Room in the US.

[Seth]

Contribution based and income based social security/welfare in the UK.

You get a contribution based welfare payments for a limited period which don't take into account savings or other income. When that expires you can get a lower level of welfare only if you have no savings (but are still required to prove you are looking for work).

Never been unemployed long enough to require income based benefits and to be honest when that happens the country is probably as screwed as I am

Don't make the mistake of thinking that the US system is any less socialist or any more sustainable than the UK system. It's not.

[Seth]

I was watching "24 Hours in the ER" last night and got a bad case of the giggles. I saw nobody go through there that had to spend any time at all with the Insurance Lady, that demon that haunts every Emergency Room in the US.

So? Somebody asks you how you are planning to pay for the service. So what? Here's the thing you don't understand: if you can't afford to pay anything, you won't get billed a dime, by federal law.

[MrJonno]

I was watching "24 Hours in the ER" last night and got a bad case of the giggles. I saw nobody go through there that had to spend any time at all with the Insurance Lady, that demon that haunts every Emergency Room in the US.

So? Somebody asks you how you are planning to pay for the service. So what? Here's the thing you don't understand: if you can't afford to pay anything, you won't get billed a dime, by federal law.

Cool you can get 12 months of cancer treatment without paying for it!, that really true?

[laklak]

You can't get your SS benefits till you turn 62, at which point you'll get 80% of the payout you would get at age 65. I think that's changing for anyone under the age of 55. I'm 57 and I'm going to start taking it as soon as possible, before all the money runs out. You can get disability, but only if you've worked 25 consecutive quarters in a SS paying job. I think 25 is the correct figure, I'm not sure about that. My ex never worked that long, lazy bitch that she was, so when she got sick and "couldn't" work all she got was 415 a month in Supplemental Security Income. If she'd worked long enough she would have made 3 or 4 times that.

It's not a bad deal, IF there are enough young workers to fund it and IF you live long enough to collect more than you paid in. For most people, though, it's a bad investment. Putting 15% of your income away every month in a savings account would serve you better. Well, it's not 15% at the moment as they've extended the SS percentage cut, but that's what it was when I was paying "self employment tax", which translates as "protection money", except that they don't actually protect you from anything.

Nice looking house you got here, be a shame if you had to go live in a prison cell.

[MrJonno]

It's not a bad deal, IF there are enough young workers to fund it and IF you live long enough to collect more than you paid in. For most people, though, it's a bad investment. Putting 15% of your income away every month in a savings account would serve you better. Well, it's not 15% at the moment as they've extended the SS percentage cut, but that's what it was when I was paying "self employment tax", which translates as "protection money", except that they don't actually protect you from anything.

Shouldnt really be about whether its a good deal for you but whether its a survivable deal for everyone, no one should expect to live it up on on a state pension(SS in US speak) thats where the personal responsibility and saving bit comes into it

[Bella Fortuna]

You can't get your SS benefits till you turn 62, at which point you'll get 80% of the payout you would get at age 65.

If you're born 1960 or after you'd get a 70% payout at 62 that you'd get at 67. It'd graduated depending on age.

[laklak]

1960 eh? I'm not usually glad I'm older than dirt, but I'll make an exception in this case. So in 2016 I'm retiring on 80%! Hoo Ha! Bring on the Medicare, baby! Does Part D cover Cialis? Sign me up for AARP and I want that 10% discount at the movie theater and the Early Bird Special liver and onions at Denny's.

I also understand I can get my very own Hoveround, at little or no cost to me!

[Bella Fortuna]

1960 eh? I'm not usually glad I'm older than dirt, but I'll make an exception in this case. So in 2016 I'm retiring on 80%! Hoo Ha! Bring on the Medicare, baby! Does Part D cover Cialis? Sign me up for AARP and I want that 10% discount at the movie theater and the Early Bird Special liver and onions at Denny's.

I also understand I can get my very own Hoveround, at little or no cost to me!

Go for the industrial model...

[Seth]

I was watching "24 Hours in the ER" last night and got a bad case of the giggles. I saw nobody go through there that had to spend any time at all with the Insurance Lady, that demon that haunts every Emergency Room in the US.

So? Somebody asks you how you are planning to pay for the service. So what? Here's the thing you don't understand: if you can't afford to pay anything, you won't get billed a dime, by federal law.

Cool you can get 12 months of cancer treatment without paying for it!, that really true?

Cancer is not an immediate life-threatening disease, so the emergency room is the wrong place to go for cancer care.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

WANT

[Seth]

1960 eh? I'm not usually glad I'm older than dirt, but I'll make an exception in this case. So in 2016 I'm retiring on 80%! Hoo Ha! Bring on the Medicare, baby! Does Part D cover Cialis? Sign me up for AARP and I want that 10% discount at the movie theater and the Early Bird Special liver and onions at Denny's.

I also understand I can get my very own Hoveround, at little or no cost to me!

Go for the industrial model...

Mattracks! Cool! I always wanted a set of 4 of those for my Hummer for on-snow travel. Not cheap at all though.