Social Security is a relic of the Great Depression, it hasn't been put to the chopping block for a variety of reason ranging from need to political pandering. Unfortunately it's slowly begun to rot away for various reasons, and politicians from both sides of the aisle refuse to deal with the problem without being absolutely forced to deal with it, and if I where in thier shoes I'd probably be of the same opinion. Afterall, the party that winds up doing away with Social Security is going to alienate a pretty substantial voting group.
However, something must be done because eventually it's going to be a gigantic fiasco. Theorethically you can have the government issue bonds to cover the current debt of the program. End people paying in (get rid of the payroll tax) and close out the system. Tis way you can pay out to those that have already paid in. Eventually you'll have to sell government assests to cover the pay back on the bonds, however, this is far better than having the program going belly up while there are still people depending on it.
The cost of Social Security and Medicare over the next 75 years is $103.2 Trillion, and the amount they plan on taking in (from payroll tax and other sources) is only around $60 trillion. Which leaves a big gap to cover. Best estimates show that the Social Security fund will run out of money in their trust fund by within my lifetime. The program is going to be bankrupt by 2040. Which means that most people that are currently in highschool and college today will then enter the workforce and beggin paying in but will never see a penny coming out unless something is done, So, what's the point of having them pay in in the first place when there is no way the government can deliver without some serious overhauling? Whether that overhauling be severly raising the age which you can start collecting and limiting who can collect benefits or by increasing taxes to draw in more funds for Social Secuity or demoing the program is irrevlevant because something must be done. Granted ending the program like this means that people will need to start putting money away for retirement in private accounts, investments or other ways, but even if they keep the program running we're going to need to do that anyway because after they run out of money to pay out, we'll be up a creek if we haven't done that anyway.
Unfortunately, I see the government waiting until the last possible second to do something. Essentially the current generation is stating "it's not our problem" and dumping it on the plate of the next generation. I fear this will lead to serious problems in the future.
Response to poll: I'm under 30- Shut down, but pay and refund.*
I'm not really a stalwart when it comes to this issue. I'm rather pragmatic. I don't mind comprimise, and I don't really care what they do in regards to Social Security as long as the problem is fixed.
