Poll: 3/4 of young people think there will be no Social Security by the time they retire.

[DCBob]

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll finds that a majority of retirees say they expect their current benefits to be cut, a dramatic increase in the number who hold that view. And a record six of 10 non-retirees predict Social Security won't be able to pay them benefits when they stop working.

Skepticism is highest among the youngest workers: Three-fourths of those 18 to 34 don't expect to get a Social Security check when they retire.

more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-07-20-1Asocialsecurity20_ST_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip

Wow, that's a big number. If true, then enacting SS reform should be very popular.

[rfranklin]

1. Yep, the right wing disinformation campaign has been successful...

Their propaganda machine has been fabulously effective.

[LiberalLoner]

2. Yup. Well, if they do eliminate SS, they better stop taking big chunks of money from our pay for SS

[DCBob]

4. I think many Democrats have also expressed there are serious problems..

right?

[rfranklin]

5. Because they are buying into the right wing propaganda...

Social Security is only in trouble if you agree with the right wing that those Treasury bonds are "worthless IOUs"

[izquierdista]

15. Help them out

I offer to take all the "worthless IOUs" that are cluttering up a right-winger's life.

[depakid]

19. Liars have- that's for sure.

[bettyellen]

13. this si what;s behind the anti boomer campaign- it;s easier to abandon a generation when

the propagandists have convinced you the boomer's the enemy. and it;s working on some very short sighted young people. they ignore boomers paid in more than anyone, that the money is there.. and the boomers need it more than any generation because pensions are gone. and wages eroded. all thanks, for the most part to the "greatest generation". X and Y ers have it all wrong. and it's not a coincidence.

[Warpy]

3. My dad told me they said the same thing in the 1930s when it started

that it was a scam and it wouldn't be around for him when he retired. Of course, when he got older he got smarter and figured out how insurance works.

Today, we're seeing the last desperate push of the plutocracy in trying to chip away at it enough to render it useless. It is pure desperation, too, since if they don't destroy it now, when it's been weakened by putting it into the general fund and disguising its nature as a classic, pay as you go old age insurance system, they'll have no chance at all for several more decades.

It's still the third rail of politics in this country, the most popular government program ever. I would suggest we keep pressure on Congress and on Obama to disband the cat food commission and to defang them, making their recommendations just more self serving bullshit from men who are so unimaginably rich they'll never need this insurance.

Meanwhile, we Boomers do. It's all too many of us have to keep us alive when we're too sick to work.

[rfranklin]

7. It is not "pay as you go"

Back when Reagan raised the withholding, we started "paying it forward" to compensate for the baby boomers. The fact that they used the money to finance tax cuts and a bloated military doesn't negate that. We just have to take it back out of the military budget with interest.

[Warpy]

12. It's still pay as you go. Reagan just scammed us, knowing full well

that Congress would rob the overpayments to mask the disaster his tax cuts for plutocrats caused the treasury. That has been the case and anyone who thinks those T-bills will ever be redeemed should be interested in buying my beachfront home in NM, sight unseen.

Any "fix" of Social Security should involve taking it out of the general fund and restoring it as a stand alone old age insurance system.

Not doing so will keep it vulnerable to raiding and eventually to dismantling. Plutocrats hate it, always have and always will. They will keep trying to destroy it.

[mrcheerful]

6. After 30 years of the cons saying SS was broke and parents constantly voicing their fear

that SS will end in their life time what do you expect? Never mind that all of this stemmed from cons predicting a short fall in the future based on the number of workers today vs the baby boomers retiring, you know the screed, theres less workers then baby boomers so with all the money going out to retirees SS will be broke. Ahhh the skies falling run for the hills. Nit wits. I remember Reagan predicting SS to go belly up by 2000 for christ sake.

[JHB]

8. Because "SS needs 'reform'" gets halfway around the world before...

..."SS is not in crisis" gets its boots on. (with apologies to Mark Twain)


How many 18-34 year olds actually hear the case against "reform"? Even once, much less anything like the drumbeat of those trying to "fix" SS to death?

[mwb970]

9. I've been hearing this from wingnuts for 25 years.

One rightie where I used to work would go on and on and on over lunch about how Social Security would not be there for him. I tried and tried to understand where he was getting this idea, but could only find out that he was absolutely certain about this for some unstated reason.

Well. The guy has been retired for several years now, and has (of course) been collecting his Social Security the whole time, just like I always said he would.

Honestly, conservatives are just such fools! It would be more fun to watch their insane antics if they weren't ruining my country.

[JoePhilly]

22. I had the exact same thought ....

25 years ago we were being told the same thing.

Its the reason I've been fully funding a 401k since I was 25. I'm 46 now, and the same folks on the right are predicting that SS won't be there for the young people.

I don't buy it ... but I'm going to keep funding that 401k.

[mwb970]

25. Well, in any case, you're the better off for it.

If SS is there, fine. If not, you're not "doomed".

[marmar]

10. This so-called "reform" will make sure they don't have any Social Security

nt

[Javaman]

27. +1000. nt

[MadHound]

11. They're probably right, hell I doubt that I'll see much, if any, SS

And I've got more of my working years behind me than ahead of me.

You can't continue to raid SS like Reagan and others have done, leaving Treasury bonds as IOU's, and expect to have enough money to fully fund SS. Especially with the boomers coming in.

The catfood commission is but the first of a number of measures that will kill SS, probably within twenty years.

[blindpig]

14. Propaganda works. n/t

[reformist2]

16. Obama needs to reassure people that Social Security is here to stay.

And that whatever long-term budget problems it may have are fixable. Letting people lose faith in one of our government's most important programs is unacceptable, and plays into the hands of those who want to do away with it.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

17. I believe this...

Looking at the problem logistically, we are experiencing the onset of a huge number of retirements (baby boomers). Subsequent generations are notably smaller. It's a very valid concern to question and doubt the ability of a smaller group of people to do the job that a larger group of people used to do. My concern has nothing to do with politics. We are going to experience rising social security costs to support more people while asking fewer workers to support them. And keep in mind this strain we are about to encounter is in addition to the ever-problematic inflation that SS needs to keep up with. Also, to throw more weight on the camel's back is the outsourcing of jobs and replacing of our labor with automation... both shrink the pool of people paying into SS.

Social security influx will need supplanted by higher taxes or government support.
I'll be surprised if SS is still around in 30 years. More so if it's still providing a sustainable income.

[OHdem10]

18. RW Propaganda works. This is why the GOP are confident

they can privatize SS. Paul Ryan said people over
50 keep SS they have. Under 50 will have some form
of Privatized SS, He believes younger people will
prefer Stock Market.

For years the Right have convincing young people
the Goverment can not do anything right and Social
Security will not be there for them.

After the Wall Street Debacle, Wall Street is the
last place I would trust with SS.

Keep in mind, the GOP only concern themselves with
families mak8ing aroung 70 K annually and up.
These are the people who are polled and for the
most part vote.

In all these years, where was the Democratic Party.

Me Tooing the Right.

[reformist2]

20. "He believes younger people will prefer Stock Market."....LOL!

While I have no doubt they'll never stop pushing for privatization, it wouldn't be smart for Republicans to talk about this for a while.

It would be smart, however, for Democrats to remind voters what Republicans wanted to do with Social Security just a few years ago.

[Jennicut]

24. No one my age prefers the stock market. Most of my friends think it is a sham.

And most of us don't even have money in the stock market. Do 18 to 34 year olds invest majorly in the stock market? With what money would we do that with? Most of us have some money in there from our 401Ks and a few company stocks depending on where we work.

[Romulox]

21. They're mostly right (math is not "rightwing").

Every objective observable predicts a structural shortfall within this age-group's lifetime. :hi:

[Jennicut]

23. I am a Gen Xer, I am 34. Younger people want Social Security to be there, they don't want it

dismantled. They want assurance that it WILL be there for them someday. And yes, part of it is a certain dislike toward the baby boomers. Every generation has something against the one that came before it, don't they? However, from talking to my friends, none of them want major changes to SS. Raising the cap should be good enough.

[bullwinkle428]

26. "Financial advisors" push this meme to ALL incoming employees these days!

It sure happened to me when I started with my employer back in 1987, and I have no doubt it continues to be pushed even more enthusiastically these days!

[pampango]

28. If they don't support it politically, they'll be right about it disappearing. Each generation

supports the ones preceding it or it doesn't work at all.