Welcome to the financial apocalypse everyone predicted for the last 20 years that no one did anything about.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... cit/38019/
^^it should be noted that this wasn't predicted to happen until 2014-2016^^

Medicare is right on the heels of SS and if you think this health reform bill is going to help I've got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

We
Are
Fucked

Have a nice day citizen.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

how much for the bridge?

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A cool trillion.
I swear it'll go straight back to paying down the national deficit...honest.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

well.. if you insist..

*reaches for checkbook*

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Been sayin this for years. It actually was given a name back in 85'. I use it as an example quite often.
Its called the Mushroom.

Welcome to the baby boomers legacy they are going to leave us. It may have been Roosevelt's terd ball, but it was the baby boomers failure to act while knowing what was coming that is the real laugher in this one.
Oh the stories I could tell you.

And XC gets a cookie once again..................its time to bend over citizens, cause you youngens ain't gonna get no retirement plan from Uncle Sam, but you still have to pay into it. LOL, oh the irony.

Oh, and by the way, you can forget about about fixing this one, what is stated in the 2 sentences above is the final word on the subject. How do you like those Repubs and Dems now people? They've known this out come for years..........YES, YEARS.

There will be no If's, and's or but's folks, you taint saving this program. If you even attempt to argue otherwise, your only fooling yourself, the numbers will never jive.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

Well Bush tried.
Everyone mocks the private investment accounts now, but at least he friggin tried something.

I must say...even with the economic meltdown my private investments have done much better than my SS account.

My Dad has said to me on several occasions: "Thanks for the monthly check I don't need, you won't be seeing any of this."

Here's another quote from a retired person I know on facebook
He's a multi-millionaire.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Private Accounts wouldn't have done anything for this XC, for every winner there is inherintly a loser.
Not everyone can make good investments. Stocks, portfolios and group accounts can't keep going up. Its just another fantasy I'm afraid.

No, the only real solution was personal savings by individuals. The only sure way to ensure your retirement is to start saving for it from the start, that is the only proven method that has ever worked.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.

I think the issue is that we wanted to keep the financial strength of our elderly citizens in the hands of the government, rather than a corporation, who can leave town if they so choose(leaving us empty handed).

I know there's a million ways to shoot this down, but what do ya want from one sentence ffs. lol

If only I was investment savvy, all I have to look forward to when I retire is a 401K. After my grandpa's death we found out that he had numerous investments. I wish he would have spread the knowledge a bit.

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this place feels more like home, with one big happy family

I know a guy who is pretty decent with finance if you want some free advice

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"She's like plan C after an 18 pack"

Squanto 7/27/2010

Because government has such a notable track record of increasing wealth?
Seriously?
I could invest after drinking for 15 hours straight...while someone was punching me in the face, and get a better return than the Social Security "trust fund".
Social Security is a ponzi scheme that just ran out of investors.
Who exactly does that help?

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Hold my beer and watch this...

The only advice young people need is to start investing RIGHT NOW.
The earlier you start, the earlier the real growth comes.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

It's not that cross, I don't want our country to be the company too big to fail. I prefer the strength of my country to come from within.

That sounds like a perfect description actually.

All I see are politicians throwing gas on a fire.

We're broke...it's done...it's a sham.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

I've seen models that have shown that holding debt is good for credit ratings, so we're not done by a long shot.

Actually, Slesh, if the market rises steadily (as the long-term performance has been consistently), then there need not be a loser in investing in the market. It's not a zero-sum game.

Stocks and investments can keep going up. It's only in the short term there's been big downward trends. Take a diverse investment from 35 years ago, I guarantee it's had positive growth over that time, even with a market that has yet to fully rebound from the latest plunge.

Ham

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Do you believe yet?

You're right ham, and I've been lucky enough to experience it. I just don't know which "oops" in the system could be the monkey wrench. The "It's a zero-sum game" proposition is scary.

The issue here isn't the stock market...SS and Medicare don't grow with the stock market.

It's pretty simple really. We're spending more than we're taking in. To fund that deficit we sell treasury bonds.
Those bonds are increasingly less attractive to institutional investors so we have to raise their interest rates.
We're on the brink of losing our AAA rating which will make those bonds even less attractive.

Once we can't sell those anymore, the party is over.

SS is underwater now and Medicare will be underwater in the very near future.
Do you know how much of the Federal budget that is?

34%

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Hold my beer and watch this...

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Summary-B ... l?x=0&.v=2

Case in point why we're screwed.

We can't fund these programs with "real" money and our time funding them with borrowed money is quickly running out.

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Hold my beer and watch this...

Yes Ham, but the sole reason the markets have risen in dollar value itself has nothing to do with long-term performance. It has everything to do with inflationary rates. It may not appear a zero-sum game, but in the end, it actually is when you compare it to the surety of actual savings over the course of ones life.

This of course, has risks of its own. There are no performance guarantees on market index's just as there are no guarantees that you would live long enough to enjoy retiring. Also, throw into the mix that a set retirement age is out the window no matter which route is taken.

There is of course, merit to the "save for your own retirement" way, and that would include investing in the market, but then, why would you need a public or government run account for this? You could just put the personal accountability with the individual and do away with any public option altogether, offering less government and further savings to the taxpayer by eliminating this proposed agency altogether.

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Lord Stanley's Cup is what its all about.
Mr. Pegula, your destiny awaits you sir.