Reply #171: I'm not going to win any friends here by what I, (as a Soc Sec recipient) say ..but

[activa8tr]

We cannot bankrupt the greatest democracy in the world with a Ponzi scheme that is broken.

If I live an average life span for my current age, (according to the actuarial tables) I will collect twenty-five times what I paid in.

I am (OBVIOUSLY) NOT against paying elders a fair and reasonable retirement pension, guaranteed and supported by a government system, but I have to say, our system is NOT WORKING, according to the numbers, NOT working for the young folks, NOT working so that the disabled are afforded adequate income and care! SOME may be doing fine today, SOME retired folks, SOME with disabilities, but the current trajectory of the system is doomed to fail, as currently constructed.

OF COURSE: we must give the aged adequate income for a decent, (not luxurious) lifestyle.

OF COURSE: those that were more financially successful should be paying more into the system now, and taking out less later.

OF COURSE: we need to protect those who cannot work, those whose physical and mental challenges are immense.

BUT HOW? THAT is the question I expect Obama and his team and his appointees to resolve, that's why I voted for him. Will it be perfect in my lifetime, probably not. Can it be improved ? Of course! Will it be fair to all? I doubt it.

By electing the likes of GW Bush and the anti-tax Republican crowd, our nation put us on this collision course, please stop blaming Obama for trying his best to make it a little more fair.

Some of the sensationalist posts on this thread have me wondering if people here at the DU have looked at the numbers, looked at the spiraling costs of health care for the elderly, the costs of untreated illnesses, or looked at the blessings of a mixed capitalist system that actually rewards savings for retirement.

Sure, it's not fair now, sure, we will see some suffer because our system is imperfect, but to blame Obama for this mess, to blame him for trying to make it a little less unjust, for looking at ALL the options, let's be a little more rational, please. We have a problem, the numbers don't add up, we need to fix it.

I've said my piece, I am thankful to the workers of America who pay me once a month for being old, able to work, but old and not expected to work. I don't have hundreds of thousands to support myself in my senior years, I need some system to keep me from being homeless and on the streets. I hope few of you wind up as poor as I did after 40+ years of working, all I have is 500 a year in dividend payments from investments, and social security. I am willing to work, but too old to be hired by most employers, and I will NOT be able to work forever.

Let's have the millionaires and the off-shore corporations pay for their success in the USA. Let's not tax the simple workers and retiree's for their plight, let's let the bounty of American enterprise pay for our seniors' quality of life, not riches, but decency.

Can we move toward that? I hope so. I'm more willing to trust Obama to get us there than GWB or Ron Paul or some other half-wit.

And YOU?