SS is a defined benefit retirement program. Does everyone here who argues against defined benefit plans want to give up their SS?
Not limited to gov. employees.
It’s got potential shortfalls.
And our government, in their ‘wisdom” has decided to under fund it more by cutting the payroll taxes on the employee side by 2% for 2011.
Contributions should probably be increased, not cut, IMO. I am counting on it being there when the time comes… and at my age it will/would be hard to take that expectation out of my personal retirement calculations.
I’ll restate something I’ve said before… defined benefit plans used to be the norm even in the private sector. I’m a fan of them. But they need to be funded. I am grandfathered into two (small) frozen pensions… One is extremely underfunded and is under a plan imposed by ERISA to bring funding up. At the same time funding was dropping they hired a second CEO who topped the highest paid list for the year. The idea that money not spent on pensions somehow magically makes it down to employees…or even shareholders is a JOKE. The money not spent on pensions made it into the bonuses of the c-execs.
