Yeah, hopefully. I'm not saying we should get rid of Social Security, I'm saying I'm personally too cynical to count on it.

I'm counting on working until I'm about 75. That'll be 3 years after I die.

Save now and hope there will be something there, but like you I am not counting on it.

You two are the least of the systems worries. At this point I think you are expected to take the attitude that nothing will be there, otherwise there won't be.

The problem with that thinking is that I pay a lot of money into it every year, I should get a piece.

You will get a piece, unless you die too soon.

just not what you put in - relatively speaking.

If everyone got back what they put in, it would be useless.

Where are you going to save? The stock market, that crashed? The bank, 30 of which have closed in 2010? My mattress, where its value won't increase? If retirement age were increased, and if there were a net worth maximum to recieve SS, there'd be money there when we retire.

I'm not counting on jack from SS. Started an IRA 5 years ago and fingers crossed that and a fire department pension will see me through the golden years.

You understand that when a bank closes, your deposits are insured up to $250,000, right? If you've got more than that to save, put it in multiple banks.

You're right we should all get back more, MUCH more than we put in.

Same here. We got to worry about paying off interest charges as well...

I'm not counting on it, but I'm hopeful.

When I was younger, I didn't think it would ever exist for me, and I would have welcomed its termination. But now that I've paid a metric ass ton into the system, I'm more and more interested in keeping the pyramid scheme going.

They send out those little annual reports about what your payments will be at age 72 if you continue earning your current salary. That amount would be very nice to get. I wonder if those are in today's dollars or in the future's dollars? I think they say I'm gonna get like $1500 a month. That might not be enough to buy a can of cat food in 30 years when I retire. Hopefully they will adjust for inflation, and I'll get $28,000 a month so I can afford 60 cans of cat food each month.

Propafuckingganda...

There is no way that money will be there like they say it will.