Sender: -2.5 (spamval) -- NONE
Message-ID: <42163BE8.5000209 &AElig eecs.umich.edu>
User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.7.3) Gecko/20040922
MIME-Version: 1.0
References: <STABENOW-IQHn0TqFhS0000a92f &AElig stabenow-iq> <8d35806705021807152894eab0 &AElig mail.gmail.com> <5f7eed63b19ac068fd84620f25c669af &AElig umich.edu>
In-Reply-To: <5f7eed63b19ac068fd84620f25c669af &AElig umich.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 14:03:04 -0500
To: improvetheworld &AElig umich.edu
From: Matthew R Rudary <mrudary &AElig eecs.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Keep the Security in Social Security!
Status: O

Stealing from social security == investment in treasury bonds. 
Essentially, the government borrows the surplus from social security 
taxes every year by issuing treasury bonds in that amount to the social 
security trust fund.

http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/WhatAreTheTrust.htm

Also, I think raising/eliminating the FICA cap is a good idea; 
regressive taxes are, well, regressive. However, raising the cap may 
raise benefits for people making more than the cap; as I understand it, 
you benefits are calculated based on your average income over your 
highest 35 years of earnings, but the amount for each year is limited to 
the tax cap for that year.

Also, it should be noted that the caps have been growing; it's $90k for 
2005, but it was 87.9k for 2004, $76.2k in 2000, 51.3k in 1990, etc.

http://www.ssa.gov/retire2/maxtax.htm

Lisa raises a good point about raising the retirement age--I think that 
the retirement age should be indexed with actuarial tables in some way 
(with the proviso that when you're within X years of retirement, your 
retirement year can't increase again, where X = 10 or 15).

Matt

Robert Felty wrote:
> I am not opposed to privatization in theory, but after reviewing Bush's 
> plan, it does not seem very good.  In order to do better than what 
> social security would normally pay out, one has to have investments that 
> get 3% above inflation, which could be anywhere from 4%-8% probably, 
> which is not terribly difficult, but not that easy either.  The risks 
> also seem quite great.  So to me the potential reward does not seem 
> worth the risk.  In talking with my dad, I suggested that they simply 
> invest the social security money in U.S. treasury bonds, instead of 
> having it just sit around not earning any money.  My dad informed me 
> that they already do this.  However, there usually isn't much money 
> sitting around.  When there is some money sitting around, our 
> legislators usually pillage it for other reasons.  So that leads to my 
> first proposal
> 1.  Stop stealing from social security.
> 
> My dad also made another recommendation, which president Bush has 
> recently said he will consider, which is raising the cap on how much of 
> income is subject to social security tax (FICA).  Currently one only 
> pays FICA on up to $90,000 of income (it has been going up slowly - 
> $76,200.00 in 2000).  This obviously benefits the rich greatly.  If we 
> got rid of the cap entirely, that would greatly increase social security 
> money.
> 2.  Lift CAP
> 
> Unfortunately, Stabenow's petition offers no suggestions, merely,"We 
> need to build on the success of Social Security by developing bold and 
> innovative ways for Americans to build wealth and save for retirement. 
> Privatization is not the answer."  Why not suggest some alternatives?
> I am not going to sign her petition, but I will send her my suggestions.
> 
> Thanks.
> Rob
> 
> On Feb 18, 2005, at 10:15, Lisa Hsu wrote:
> 
>> hey guys,
>>
>> by writing to our senator (whom i like, she always sends back a
>> relevant message), i guess i've now gotten on the list to receive
>> emails on her pet issues.  this one is about social security and what
>> our michigan senator is doing about it.  she includes a petition to
>> tell Bush to take privatization adn shove it.
>>
>> lisa
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From: Senator Debbie Stabenow <senator &AElig stabenow.senate.gov>
>> Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2005 20:53:42 -0500
>> Subject: Keep the Security in Social Security!
>> To: kerry &AElig lisazapato.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> February 4, 2005
>>
>> Miss Lisa Hsu
>> 2200 Fuller Court, Apartment 401B
>> Ann Arbor, MI  48105
>>
>> Knowing of your interest . . .
>>
>>  . .  in critical issues affecting the future of our country, I am
>> writing to update you regarding the current debate over Social
>> Security.  As you may know, I am leading efforts in the United
>> States Senate to keep Social Security secure and ensure its
>> solvency through the 21st century.
>>
>> Social Security is a great American success story.  We need to
>> reject privatization schemes that would require deep benefit cuts
>> and massive increases in the national debt and work together to
>> strengthen and improve Social Security. We should look to the
>> future to create new ways for Americans to build wealth and
>> retirement security.
>>
>> Working together, we can achieve these important goals. But I
>> need your help. We need to join together and fight these
>> privatization schemes to keep Social Security safe for all
>> Americans.  I invite you to visit my website at
>> http://stabenow.senate.gov/socialsecurity for more information and
>> to sign my online petition to encourage President Bush and the
>> Congress to reject privatization and instead, build on the success of
>> Social Security.
>>
>> As always, thank you for your interest in the important issues
>> facing our country.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> Debbie Stabenow
>> United States Senator
>>
>> ---------------------------------------------------
>> You are receiving this e-mail because you have previously
>> communicated with my office about a related issue. If you would
>> rather not receive e-mails like this in the future, please respond to
>> this message with the word REMOVE in the subject line.
>>
>>

-- 
Matt Rudary
Graduate Student
Intelligent Systems
University of Michigan
(734) 262-4760

i'm not an egomaniac.  i'm a *realist*. --mlt