I've said it before, any Social Security Reform must include a raising of the age at which benefits can be collected. For anyone 40 years or younger today that age should be pegged to the Life Expectancy based on your birth date. We cannot as the article points out continue to pay all these benefits for up to a third of the lifespan of people. We also really cannot afford to lose many baby boomers from the work force. We simply do not have the skilled labor force to replace them because of the deemphasis on vocational training.

Its just like the Minimum Wage should be pegged to inflation rather than large jumps every few decades, Congress gets their raises adjusted by inflation every year, but have never given that right to the people......

I would not call retiring early as "unpatriotic". You are giving folks coming into the workforce a chance for employment. What is unpatriotic are companies outsourcing to cheap/low wage countries instead of keeping the jobs in this country.

One big reason why the federal, states, local governments and corporate budgets are out of control is because they really haven't adapted to people living longer. Pensions and entitlements were only supposed to provide for retirees after a 40 year or so career and then the retiree would die only after collecting for a few years.

Think about someone putting in their 20 to 25 years and retiring at 50 and living on these programs until they are 85. Someone has to pay for this. If it's a government program then it's taxes and high interest borrowing. If it's GM or a similar company then the profits will pay this while competitors pay for r&d and build a better product.

Certainly food for thought.

I always wondered about this one. Who makes a career out of the minimum wage??? Myself and most or pretty much everyone I know may have made it just after high school and simply moved on. Some of you may have lost a job and had to take a min wage job temporary but you have bigger problems if you can't get past the min wage for a long period of time.

And I agree congress does NOT deserve any of what they currently have. Not because I can't stand them but because they don't produce anything valuable for America. If anyone deserves the min wage for a lifetime it's anyone in congress!

I make more than min wage. Not much more but I do. In some areas it is getting hard to find jobs and I suspect as more manufacturing leaves the country and as IT starts moving out to more and more folks will find themselves in minimum wage jobs. The large jumps in minimum wage hurt small businesses more than if they had a steady slow growth of it indexed to inflation which is easier to plan for than 70 cents a year for three years. Large jumps in it leads to less job creation.

spot on

I've been working since I was sixteen years old so screw that.

I have no doubt that social security IS NOT going to be there when I need it.

I left a union job to take a corporate job with the same company a few years ago and just recently received a letter from the union trust fund saying that it is in trouble. I have no doubt that my pension from that is not going to be there when I need it either.

I think that I have put a great number of years into the system already, without ever collecting unemployment, welfare, or any other kind of aid, and I'll be damned if someone is going to make me feel guilty for taking anything out if I retire a few years before the pillow has been plumped on my impending death bed.

I plan to retire while I am still able to afford contaminated, recalled pet food. Glamorous, I know. But that's just me.

ep