Supporters say that under the current system the Social Security coffers will be exhausted in a few decades and that having their own private plan

They've also been saying that for decades. I believe that our elderly are disrespected on so many levels when it comes to retirement and end of life care that it's shameful to say otherwise. We need to overhaul aspects of social security, but I think everyone should have to pay in and everyone should receive a pay out when they are of age. This whole idea that things will just sort itself out when there is newscast and article after article regarding some member of society who just couldn't get life sorted enough to be productive and maintain a basic lifestyle. Do we let these people die in the streets and look away? No, we give them bare minimum of care and call it a day. It just boggles the mind how we have arguments on the House and Senate floors arguing they should have "thought about that in their 30's. I did". Yeah, because being a career politician is something to be proud of.../end rant

Stick with the plan

Personally, I think I should be able to opt out. The older generation has not paid me any respect and a majority of the stuff they got out of and saved from (education, lower taxes, a better economy, etc).

I'm paying for my education now, and will be going into debt doing it. Yet the older generation got reduced rates (and some got entirely free university educations if they did it right) on a lot of things that I don't have access to now. I will earn my own paycheck and should not be forced to pay for some 80-something's retirement check when I will have loans and my own life to live.

Old people are their family's problem, really and if they don't have money to take care of their flesh and blood or they don't have relatives then they should take money away from prisons and make state run retirement homes a huge thing.

I don't mean the older generation has paid me any respect by history standards or anything like that. I don't play into the whole them fighting in the past for my future. I mean on a daily basis they feel some entitlement and quite a few old people I encounter are very rude. It doesn't make me want to support them. I have never been the biggest fan of the elderly since I volunteered at quite a few old folk's homes.

I think the biggest problem with SS today is there is no guarantee that if you pay into it, you get what you paid back again...so why do it if someone else is going to benefit from you having a job and working hard?

Just my prospective /endrant

It isn't social security otherwise.

Social Security only pays 1% on your investment. My savings account does better than that even in bad years. I'll take my money and invest myself thanks.

I would stay

Only idiots think SS should be privatized. And I hope Wall Street fucks those same people over again one day!

Opt out and get the heck out of the collapsing ponzy scheme. There will be noting there when I get to retirement age. I guess I am an idiot....."Would someone help me rearrange these deck chairs?

I would LOVE to opt out! The money will not be there for ME when I retire, so if it were possible, hypothetically, yes, I'd opt out in a heartbeat!
Too bad the government wastes so much of OUR money...but I guess there's nothing I can do...

I'm gonna go with other, I like the idea of SS but it's such a poorly ran system that it will be dry long before I ever get to draw from it, even though I will continue to pay into it until it completely fails.

Stay with it

Stay with it

I'd like to at least have the option of saving for retirement my own way. Any smart person has set aside or put something in 401k and not all relying on ss. How do I know I'm even going to live to be old enough to get SS? They keep raising it every so often so it might be 80 before I get to quit my job. I'd rather invest my money than trust the government with it.

I guess I see it as contributing to society as a whole as opposed to my individual future.

The entire program should be abolished. The only reason it worked for this long was the baby boomers, but now that they are about to start retiring en masse, the rest of us won't be able to continue supporting them for very long. The down side to this is you are pretty much dooming those that rely on the current system. I think what will happen is the soc sec program will continue to provide less and less to those that receive it, as people start to rely more on their own 401K or IRA. Hopefully at a rate that retirement accounts increase faster than soc sec checks decrease.