Saving Social Security (my first political post)

Poststructural Pub
1

I sent the following to a couple Senators, including my own. I wanted to pass the idea through here and see what other regular folks (big assumption) think of it. :smiley:

Hereā€™s an idea that either side of the house will have a hard time arguing against. You can fix the solvency issue and provide for higher contributions to private accounts at the same time.

  1. Take the cap off personal IRA type accounts.
  2. Have a graduated SSI ā€œopportunity contributionā€ taken off what investors put in their personal retirement investment account when they make an investment.
  3. The SSI opportunity contribution percentage increases as the amount put in their personal retirement investment account increases.
  4. The opportunity contribution goes directly into the SSI trust fund.

What does this do?

  1. It provides liquidity for the SSI trust fund.
  2. It provides a vehicle for personal retirement investment accounts. (and the annuity fees George wants to give the brokers)
  3. Invested well, the break even after the opportunity contribution only takes a couple years. After that the growth is tax free until withdrawal.
  4. It canā€™t be abused close to retirement because a higher opportunity contribution with higher annual investment extends the break even period.

Put some good actuaries on this idea and it will solve both the liquidity ā€œcrisisā€, and give Bush the personal retirement account feather in his 10 gallon hat that he so badly wants. Best of all, no egg on anyoneā€™s face.