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Originally posted by wonderwench
It was never meant as a retirement plan - it was meant to be a safety net for truly unfortunate people.
There is another form of retirement plan you did not mention: personal savings and investments. Allowing people to keep their money enables them to do this quite effectively.
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Here's a quote from
Social Security Online:
Quote:
In early January 1935, the Committee made its report to the President, and on January 17 the President introduced the report to both Houses of Congress for simultaneous consideration. Each House passed its own version, but eventually the differences were resolved and the Social Security Act was signed into law on August 14, 1935. In addition to several provisions for general welfare, the new Act created a social insurance program designed to pay retired workers age 65 or older a continuing income after retirement.
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Sounds like a retirement plan to me.
Anyway, historical trivialities aside, it's nice to think that we could become a nation of entrepeneurs that invest our way to security. Unfortunately, not every citizen is in a position to become a savvy investor. There are 3.9 million people who suffer from daily hunger in this country...what's to happen to them? Are we supposed to allow people to become martyrs to a free-trade ideology that deems them irresponsible? What kind of society does that create?