Retirees Increasingly Depending on Social Security

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Social Security needs reform. A year ago Social Security was projected to have a surplus until 2014. This past year, Social Security ran a deficit and it is now expected to run deficits every year (http://eng.am/obbkxK).

Scott @ Engage America of NY 1:36PM August 31, 2011

Enjoy your golden years boomers and ignore the fact that you are sucking the life blood out of the country.I am a 28 years old doctor, mature and beautiful.and now I am seeking a good man who can give me real love , so i got a username Lindasunny2002 on--a'ge'l'es's'da'te.c óm--.it is the first and best club for y'ounger women and old'er men, or older women and y'ounger men,to int'eract with each other. Maybe you wanna ch'eck 'it out or tell your friends!

lily of NY 10:38AM August 31, 2011

for ignorant,and dumb thinking people, like smartacus,and others,they need to be reminded that in order to receive social security one must have had to worked an payed into the system.this not charity or welfare.
as for smartacus ( calling him smart is a misnomer ) and his specious claim that he;ll need to work till he;s 75 to pay for people today that are drawing s.s. is a bogus statement,which is not supported by facts.

bruce b of NV 2:44AM August 31, 2011

And we all get to watch as the most selfish and entitled generation in American history (the boomers), retires to a level of entitlement that nobody coming along behing them will have a chance of seeing, because they spent their time at the political helm of this country borrowing their way to a low tax lifestyle.
Thanks for leaving the rest of us with the bill just when the world is becoming even more competitive and dangerous. Sure, we can just work until we're 75 to support a lower standard of living than you'll have in your retirement.
Enjoy your golden years boomers and ignore the fact that you are sucking the life blood out of the country.

Smartacus of CA 3:50PM August 30, 2011

And the Baby Boomers are just beginning to retire in numbers. That spells economic catastrophe. I strongly recommend finding a means of generating income as you reach and surpass 65. "Tax the rich" isn't going to work because the rich have already positioned themselves to pivot to China, India, Brazil, and other nations. When the Government finally goes broke (and I give it a few more years) those SS checks will not buy you a bag of candy bars. Those are the facts. Prepare ... for YOUR sake.

Mary Waterton of CA 3:02PM August 30, 2011

Id like to see two options:
1. Change social security to a personalized 401k that you 'cannot' draw from until you retire at 10 years before the average lifespan. That gives you 10 years to draw from your life's productivity before you kick it.
2. Scrap government retirement all together, and just create a more substantial, but still uncomfortable, welfare net to include all the elderly who chose not to work any more. This would include free army tents and free army food. If its good enough for our soldiers its good enough for our loved ones who had luck or didn't plan.
Either way, I imagine people will be more 'inclined' to rely less on the government and more on their own decisions for the future.
-Eric

Eric of TX 2:11PM August 30, 2011

In the years that there was a surplus in Social Security collections (and there were quite a few), Congress "dug into the kitty" and reappropriated the money for other things that were non-Social Security, instead of leaving it alone to accumulate and be available for when there would be more need by the people who earned the money in the first place.

Commenter of GA 12:16PM August 30, 2011