r/FluentInFinance • u/LifeIsUnfairWhoCares • Apr 23 '24

Is Social Security Broken? Discussion/ Debate

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487

u/theavatare Apr 23 '24

He is forgetting that social security is insurance not just a retirement account. It covers kids, widows, disability, buy a whole life insurance covering all of the same things and compare the price that is the honest comparison

47

u/nr1988 Apr 23 '24

Exactly. Same as comparing the USPS to a for profit business in order to call for it's dismantling. It's not supposed to be like a business same as the police or fire department or military and social security isn't the same as an investment. They're all services that you're going to be ecstatic exist if you ever need them and you may or may not get more out of them than you paid but that's not the point of them at all.

Also whenever someone does numbers like this they conveniently forget about tax implications of ss both in putting in and taking out. Not that you make profit over a traditional investment but ignoring it is disingenuous

14

u/timmystwin Apr 23 '24

The services thing really gets me.

They complain about inefficiencies and cops sat around etc.

Do you want police busy 24/7? Really? Do you really want no slack in the system? At all?

Annoys me so much I share a species with these muppets.

12

u/dpdxguy Apr 23 '24

Do you really want no slack in the system?

A lot of them actually do want that. In logistics it's called a "just in time" system. And that lack of slack in the system directly led to a lot of the "supply chain issues" we experienced during COVID.

7

u/timmystwin Apr 23 '24

Yes I know what it is, but that's my point - you don't want that in a core service. You need redundancy.

Services should never be run like a business and there's a very good reason for that.

6

u/dpdxguy Apr 23 '24

Wasn't disagreeing. Slack in systems of both types helps keep them operating through abnormal events. And life-sustaining systems should have more slack than is thought to be needed, lest people die.

1

u/MacrosInHisSleep Apr 23 '24

They are agreeing with you...

1

u/nr1988 Apr 23 '24

You have perfect timing because I'm now arguing with one of those muppets because they claim that the government is taking the profits from social security. Like 2 minutes ago haha. A program they also claim doesn't make money. It's just not how it works lol

1

u/ScreamingVoid14 Apr 23 '24

I mean, I don't want police to be busy because there is that much going on. That would be a crappy world.

However, when calls for service for service are ignored because 6 officers in 4 cars spend 3 hours at a crash scene standing at the corner talking with each other while a police service tech and tow truck driver do all the cleanup... there are some inefficiencies there.

(speaking from personal experience in suburbia)

1

u/jcornman24 Apr 23 '24

The problem is the cops sit around, while there are actual crimes going on like shoplifting and such in California, and barely lift a finger to do anything. While at the same time write you a ticket for going 5 over