Social Security: The Baby Boomers Achilles Heel

January 20, 2011 by ItheConsumer.

Having been told for years that when the Baby Boomers retire the number of workers in America will not be able to keep up the payments of Social Security to keep the Trust Fund solvent, I realize the Pundits would have us believing that the program will be flat broke before one of our first kids are ready to retire. However, you never hear them talk about the number of workers who will have to be replaced through immigration so Americas’ Economy can stay strong. Instead all we hear is how they want to dismantle the program which provides more than just a retirement check after 40-45 years of labor.

Now that does not mean we don’t have nothing to worry about as Baby Boomers. For in allowing past Congresses to borrow money from the account we should know that there is a lot of IOU slips because public outcry has not forced the repayment by Baby Boomers. And even in 2000 when VP Gore proposed to put the Trust Fund in a Lock Box, the conservatives at the time mocked his effort to save the Baby Boomers from themselves. So even today we still have Congress borrowing money basically without the fear.

Still I recognize that Social Security is the Baby Boomers Achilles heel. For why we all want to retire someday as well as see to that our children and grandchildren have the safety net we enjoyed growing up. Not even one idea in the last 20 years has been proposed which can ensure the general public that a new Social Security Act could do better. However, this is where I see how the Baby Boomers can help themselves and their Children as well. For long known to be the weakest link in a suit of armor, with a little bit of political imagination and some serious rethinking of how our parents decided to abuse or use the program I believe Americans can have our retirement cake and eat it too.

For example; America needs our infrastructure renovated and why we could ho aboard to borrow the money. It seems to me that our Local and State governments could borrow from the Social Security Trust Fund at a rate not to exceed 7% for projects usually funded by other means. Because why I realize the extra cost (Grant vs. Loan) will add to the cost of roadways, bridges, and such. Nonetheless, I do believe it is better than allowing every Congress to borrow from the funds hoping the future Congress will pay the IOU. And the same can be said about our immigration problem we have today. For with every employee retiring I am sure the employer is going to need to replace at least most of them. So as we work to secure our borders and address the other issues of immigration we should consider finding citizens who want to come to America and work.

So you see why Social Security is the Baby Boomers Achilles Heel, it does not mean we have to allow it to be the down fall of our generation.

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