My plan to fix Social Security
By The Omega Prophet
I'm not going to go through all the fundamental problems with Social Security; it's based on varying US population sizes in relation to age and health, government tapping into it when it should not, etc... I'm just going to show everyone exactly how you fix Social Security forever. By that I mean it will never run out of money or have to cut benefits to those who've paid into the system or anyone in general.
- The Federal Government must be forced by law to never touch money in/from the Social Security Trust Fund for anything other than paying out Social Security benefits. This is not debatable. Under no circumstance can congress ever touch a penny of the money in the fund ever again! It's not their money to take.
- Every US citizen will automatically be given a personal Social Security Supplemental account. If they chose to they can invest additional money from their own pockets into their account. They must be informed this is not a savings account, it's a supplemental insurance savings account. The money they chose to invest into the account can never be withdrawn before they start receiving scheduled Social Security benefits.
Once a citizen reaches retirement age or becomes disabled they will be given a choice on how they wish to receive the additional benefits, lump sum or as separate payments along with their regularly scheduled Social Security payments. If they chose to receive a lump some one time payment and they have living children they will incur a small next generation adjustment fee. This adjustment fee, I won't say exactly how much it should be, I will leave that up to the number crunchers, will be deposited into their children's supplemental Social Security account. I would suggest not making it higher than 2-10% though. You should give them the option to make this amount higher than 10% themselves if they want to.
If they chose to receive payments along with their scheduled Social Security payments the next generation child fee should be even smaller. A good minimum would be the rate of inflation each payment. Obviously if the rate of inflation is high the child(actually a middle aged adult by this time) will have a more difficult time saving and putting money towards their own Social Security Supplemental account.
The next generation child fee will not apply to anyone receiving Social Security benefits due to a disability. And, the fee would apply evenly to all children of a parent.
When a person receiving Social Security supplemental benefits dies, they can specify how they want the remaining funds distributed to family members. They have to be immediate family members, Wife, Son, Daughter, brothers and sisters, grandchildren, or their own parents. So, no 3rd cousins or anything stupid like that. They can also in addition to specifying the beneficiaries on their account can do so in their will. The date of the last change made to a person's will or account will be the final deciding factor, whichever was changed last will be final.
In the event a person dies with no immediate family members left to pass on their account money to, the money will be placed back into the general Social Security Trust fund. Keep in mind that all the money discussed so far will actually be in the general Social Security Fund until benefits are eligible to be paid out to a person.
As this proposed policy is for President Elect Donald Trump I shouldn't have to say this but I will; the total amount earned by the supplemental account will be determined by the normal investment criteria: how much was invested and win, how much the Trust Fund earned and when. Go it? So, no offloading a huge amount of money a year before you retire or you get back virtually nothing, for a year, yea, you'll earn a little but not much. Trust me, for anyone else reading this, I don't have to tell Donald Trump how investments work. lol
*3. The Federal government will invest additional money into poor peoples' personal Supplemental Social Security accounts, then pay itself back and split the interest earned. It's very simple, you take a working poor person's Earned Income credit amount or a percentage of it and invest it into their account each year they qualify for the EITC. As this is a long term investment, with the likelihood of the money doubling every 25-50 years easily, it's a win win. The federal government gets its money back with interest, the poor person gets additional help for their retirement or disability in the future. Then, the federal government should take that interest earned and use it for the same purpose without having to borrow from the federal reserve or use it to pay down he national debt. But wait, I'm not done yet!
*4. Open up the Social Security Trust fund to public donations! Allow anyone who makes a donation to the Social Security Trust fund to take a tax deduction in line with tax deductions for charitable donations to charities. If you're rich an American and want to donate money to help ensure the future of the country, bingo, this is one of the best places to donate your money imaginable. Even if you're not rich and you feel the need to help out all Americans, it's a pretty simple choice to make, help everyone else out while also helping yourself!
See, I told you I know how to fix Social Security, Mr. President Trump. Not only that, it won't be long before our country starts cutting into our national debt. All I'm asking is for you to hire me as an outside consultant/advisor, if that's legal. There are a lot of smart people in the world but no one can solve problems like me, real world problem. I'm the best problem solver this world has ever or will ever see!
Also, I've heard all the arguments for privatizing Social Security. Don't do it, please don't do it. It's a terrible idea. Social Security is a safety net and a sound/safe investment for every citizen. With a privatized Social Security scheme you're opening up all citizens to having their entire retirements wiped out rapidly. My plan protects everyone, especially from themselves both government and the people. Privatization is too volatile and risky. People should be encouraged to invest in the stock market on their own but for god's sake not as their only means for retirement, that's insanity.
I originally wrote this for Donald Trump, but since he likely didn't get it or doesn't care I feel I must share it with the citizens of the US. This is not something I'm going to debate with anyone since it's virtually impossible for it to not work and work extremely well. The only possible foreseeable reasons it would not work or fail at some point would be: total government collapse, total economic collapse and stock market crash, a very low voluntary participation rate over a long period of time, generations, or mass disability fraud going completely unchecked encompassing a large percentage of the US population. While possible none of those are likely at all, and if they were to occur, the US would have much bigger problems than the solvency of Social Security. We should use the exact same model for Medicare.
I could punch up mathematical models to prove this in greater detail, my mind operates on such a high, never seen before, macro analytical level it isn't necessary. Anyone with common sense can see it will work very well. I'd rather spend my time on more important things like finishing my plans to end the Federal Reserve, making it virtually impossible for investors to lose large amounts of money on the stock markets, and all other matters that will help advance humanity. Thanks for reading. You should show this to your congressmen and demand it become law.