This is not a new article, but I think it is something that needs to be looked at in view of the current presidential campaign.

In October 2015, CNN reported statements made by John Kasich about Social Security. There are some serious problems with Social Security and no obvious solutions, but while we are looking for solutions, young workers in America are still having Social Security deductions taken out of their paychecks despite the fact that they will probably never see a penny of that money. There are a few reasons for the problems with Social Security funding. The first problem is the declining birth rate. We need more workers paying into Social Security to keep the system going. Those workers may never see the money, but we need them paying into the system. That is dishonest, but that is the way it is set up. President Obama and some members of Congress are trying to avoid the problem by importing workers.

In November 2014, Fox News reported:

Illegal immigrants who apply for work permits in the U.S. under President Obama’s new executive actions will be eligible for Social Security and Medicare, the White House says.

Under the sweeping actions, immigrants who are spared deportation could obtain work permits and a Social Security number, which would allow them to pay into the Social Security system through payroll taxes.

No such “lawfully present” immigrant, however, would be immediately entitled to the benefits because like all Social Security and Medicare recipients they would have to work 10 years to become eligible for retirement payments and health care. To remain qualified, either Congress or future administrations would have to extend Obama’s actions so that those immigrants would still be considered lawfully present in the country.

So for ten years we will have more people paying in, and then after ten years many of those people will be looking for money–a temporary solution at best.

Another reason for the problems with Social Security is that there is no Social Security trust fund. Since the 1960’s, Congress has spent the money deducted from paychecks for Social Security. Anyone who served in Congress is responsible for allowing this to continue.

So what does John Kasich say about Social Security. The CNN article reports:

“We can’t balance a budget without entitlement reform. What are we, kidding?” Kasich said when asked about his opponents who say they won’t touch entitlements.

Kasich said he was part of the effort to reform Medicare and Medicaid in the ’90s, and that he also had a plan to change Social Security so that initial benefits were lowered for individuals not yet near eligibility.

He asked audience members to raise their hands if they were far from receiving Social Security, asked them if they knew yet what their initial benefit would be and then asked them if they would be bothered if it were a little lower for the good of the country.

First of all, Social Security is not an entitlement–the people currently working have been paying into it since they started working. The majority of the people currently collecting it have paid into it during their entire working career. Entitlements are things that people get for free that they never worked for or paid into. I think our welfare programs should be seriously cut before any cuts are made to Social Security. I also think that younger workers should be given the option of setting up tightly controlled individual retirement plans that would be out of the government’s reach when it comes to spending money. A large part of the problem with the current Social Security system is that Congress has not acted in a fiscally responsible way. We cannot change the past, but we can fix the future. I don’t believe I want John Kasich to be the person attempting to fix the future of Social Security.