I already get social security and medicare both of which I paid for all my life so I am against cutting that.
In other words, "screw you guys, I got mine". Looks like GML was right.
The logic of this response escapes me completely. From the perspective of someone drawing social security or anticipating drawing same, it is no different from withdrawing your savings or receiving the payments due from an annuity.
It is not welfare, it is something that we have paid into. If you younger guys want to collect, WORK and PAY IN.
The difference is that with a savings account, it is optional. If I want to put money into a savings account, I can. If not, I don't have to.
On the other hand, most workers (except, incidentally, railroad employees among a few other categories) have to pay into Social Security.
Social security is, essentially, a pyramid scheme. People aren't paying in for their own retirement. They're paying in to cover the people who have *already* retired. When today's workers retire, they will not be taking money from what they put into social security. That money will have long since been spent. Instead, they will be taking money from the next generation of employees.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm in no way saying that Social Security is a bad thing, if only because it is somewhat of a forced savings plan for a country that doesn't seem to know what savings is. However, one cannot ignore the reality that if Social Security were optional, and today's working generation opted out, then folks like Henry would be going home empty-handed (and you couldn't blame "[us] younger guys" for it).
Frankly, retired (and soon-to-be retired) folks should thank their lucky stars that social security isn't optional. In a previous (government) job, I opted out of my company's pension plan. I did so for a number of reasons, including the fact that previous generations of employees (including some that retired while I was there) had left such a mess that I had no intention of subsidizing lazy slobs that didn't do a damn thing while they were at work (and made for a larger mess for my coworkers and me to clean up after they were gone). I figured I'd be better off investing on my own rather than paying into a dying pension that would probably go bust by the time I was of retirement age anyway.
If SS were optional, and the younger generation were upset at the state of affairs their elders left them, all they'd have to do is opt out, find their own savings/retirement plan, and plug their ears for a couple of years to drown out the screams and howls of the retirees. I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, but the attitudes of some of the above quotes are part of the reason why some people might just take that opinion. It *is* essentially "I've got mine, so **** you" ("I want my social security, I feel I'm entitled to it, cut something else, I don't want to have to sacrifice anything of mine, other people should make the sacrifices in these tough times, and all you young folks out there, go out and WORK and PAY IN so I can keep getting my check, but in the mean time I don't care if they cut your education benefits and force states to raise tuition to levels where you'll be in debt the rest of
your life, or that we leave you with crumbling infrastructure and no money to pay to fix it, or any of the multitudes of other things you may need").