If the average American is too stupid to plan for their own retirement and therefore needs Social Security...?

...what else are we too stupid to do for ourselves?

In other words, what should the government take over next?

cvq3842...exactly. Socialism tends to marginalize voting rights, because economic planning requires greater than 4-year increments. So if the government implements a 20-year plan, they make the case that it will never work if they are voted out of office. So, when the first 20-year plan fails, they find reasons to continue and keep trying and stay in power again. Eventually the voting end up meaning nothing or is eliminated altogether.

In this country, we have not eliminated the vote, but we have implemented long-term programs that are "untouchable" regardless of who is voted in. Social Security is one of those sacred cows, no matter how horribly it underperforms. And we can't opt out of it no matter how much more we could do with our own money.

if the government let me keep my Self employment tax I'd retire like a king. Instead they give me 25K for life. Thieves.

Edit 65%: many people will not even get close to what they put in. Someone making 100K pays almost 15K per year (times 40 compounded). That would give them 2.5 million! The people who benefit are the ones who pay close to nothing and collect early. It's a redistribution of wealth, and the government uses the money in the general fund. Do some research.

It is not necessarily a matter of stupid. Many people do not understand investing and as a result either they:

1. Will not invest at all or

2. They will fall victim to an unscrupulous investment person/company.

As a result we will have people who were ripped off or just invested badly due to no knowledge of investing. We would have hundred of thousands if not millions of people destitute and homeless elderly people with no one to care for them. So we will end up caring for them anyway. With Social Security, they pay their own way and the investments are handled by people who at least have a clue as to what they are doing.

Much better than the first option.

Health Care would be another program that would benefit from the government control. The government could restrict costs thus keeping costs real.

Government control is not always a bad thing.

Social security was always supposed to be a supplement, not the entire retirement fund. Your premise that if you plan for retirement you won't need the social security money is flawed, since the way it was set up you are only getting back the money you put in.

Of course this is not the case now since the program has been extended to give people more than they put in, so the money going in today is going out today and not building up in our social security accounts.

There is no perfect solution, but you can't make people be clever with money and you also can't throw them out on the street when they can't work if you are a nation that pretends to have any compassion.

Social security is not for your retirement. It's a supplement. What you should be saying is If people are too stupid to save for their retirement then they deserve to have a substandard living lifestyle when they retire. And I have no problem with that. I do have a problem with people not realizing that Social Security Tax is exactly that...it's a tax! Nothing more and nothing less. The fact that it's been earmarked for a specific program is simply PR...that has now backfired because people believe that they are entitled to get back in a retirement program as much as they put in. They don't have those same expectations of any other tax dollars that they put in...so why with these.

and I find it especially humorous when Self-Employed individuals complain about the 15% that they have to contribute when 1) half of that is for the employer portion. You know the reason that you started your own business was so that YOU can be the employer? Well it's not all fun and games and there are costs associated with being the boss! Don't like it? Go back to work for someone and let them pay 1/2. and 2) Most are S-CORPS and they take draws and completely avoid the employer portion of that amount on a large portion of their income. Not only that they are avoiding all payroll taxes. They don't have a problem with tax avoidance...just tax paying!

Voting.

That's usually what happens in the typical "socialist utopia."