A recent article about Social Security by Washington Post writer Ezra Klein has images of Al Gore popping into my head. I’m thinking back to the Bush and Gore debates where Gore said he would “keep it in a lockbox.”  The “it” being Social Security. He would even go through a mock process of putting it into a lockbox.  We’ve  been hearing for years that the system will soon be bankrupt. Social Security has a few facets to it but I’m speaking of the replacement of income when one retires; what we tend to think of when we look  at the amount deducted from our paychecks. According to Klein the average monthly benefit which replaces about 39 percent of work earnings is slated to drop to 31 percent over the next two decades all the while requiring those born in 1960 and later to work until they are 67.  I don’t know about you but I’m not looking  forward to working until I’m almost 70-years-old to not even receive enough to replace my pre-retirement earnings. Klein points out that the financial issues with Social Security lies more with babies and immigrants. We are not having as many children and if you’ve read any news in the last few months we want to keep immigrants OUT.  All this amounts to less payments going into a system that is continually paying out.  Did you know that your Congressional leaders, for all their infighting, seem to agree that you should work longer rather than working to fix the shortfall?  Klein points out that shortfall equals to about 0.7 percent of the gross domestic product over the next 75 years and while this is nothing to laugh at; it’s a priority that should be fought for as more employers get rid of pensions meaning most workers will need the guaranteed retirement income of Social Security.

Posted by Libergirl