Quote from: hawkeye on June 20, 2013, 01:24:35 AM

Quote from: KornShell on June 19, 2013, 10:12:41 AM

This thread began with a look at the inability of Illinois to pay the pensions of its civil employees. Read "PLUNDER!: How Public Employee Unions Are Raiding Treasuries, Controlling Our Lives And Bankrupting The Nation" by Steven Greenhut (The Forum Press; Santa Ana, CA,; 2009). Then you will understand why I have no sympathy for these folks.

But Baby Boomers on Social Security don't deserve anyone's hatred. They were forced to participate in a Ponzi scheme, and now they want to be paid back what was taken from them. Social Security is one of FDR's enduring legacies, and it should be ended. It can be done gracefully; there's no need for anger and animosity.

What exactly does "ending it gracefully" entail?

Here's one possible solution to ending Social Security: Stop further enrollments immediately. For those folks not yet collecting benefits, pay them back their "contributions" in full, at prevailing interest rates. For those already collecting benefits, continue the payments. They will eventually all die off, and the system will wither away. How to pay for this? One way would be to stop getting involved in unwinnable wars overseas. Another would be to close some unnecessary federal bureaucracies, such as the DOE and the EPA, just to name two.