As we continue to see "Baby Boomer" Americans retiring, it becomes increasingly important to protect our senior citizens once they decide to enjoy "their golden years". However, with the current health care bill seeking to ration care and cut parts of medicare by almost $500 billion, our senior citizens are finding it increasingly difficult to live in comfort during their later years. Right now, the current Social Security system is broken and bankrupt; the seniors in the system are seeing their benefits DECREASE while our government continues to INCREASE spending, taxes and inflation. The promises made to American workers that they would get the money back that they put in while employed, is no longer applicable. It costs younger workers more money per senior citizen than at any time in our history, and that number will continue to increase. The current "solutions" such as raising taxes on benefits and increasing the age of retirement do nothing to fix the system. Thus, here are some of my proposals to protect our seniors once they retire:
First, the imposition of taxes on Social Security benefits is illogical and detrimental, not to mention downright theft. We MUST work to ELIMINATE any and all taxes on Social Security benefits which will lead to an increase in their standards of living.
Second, it is imperative that we STOP wasteful spending of money in ALL sectors of our economy, but especially in Social Security. As such, I believe that we should mandate that all money paid into the Social Security system is used ONLY for Social Security and not other spending programs.
Third, like welfare, it is inherently unfair to reward those who do not pay into the system. As such, we should completely ELIMINATE all people from the Social Security system who have not previously paid into the system; this especially means that we do not offer Social Security benefits to illegal immigrants.
As a young worker, I have seen the possibility of receiving Social Security when I retire diminish with each passing year. It is imperative that we provide young workers the same opportunities to live in comfort once they retire. We must allow workers to invest their money TAX FREE in a Social Security savings account. This would include allowing easier access to investing in the market by eliminating capital gains taxes and by reducing payroll taxes so that our workers have more money to invest in their futures.
Finally, we MUST stop the excessive and reckless spending coming out of Washington. Congress should focus the excess money on special interest projects on helping to fund Social Security and health care for seniors. Also, with the increasing retirement population of baby boomers, I would mandate that ANY money spent on Home Health, Hospice, Assisted Living facilities, etc, should be completely tax deductible so that more individuals will be able to retire in comfort.
