Invest Social Security "withholdings" in the stock market?

[Rico Suave]

What do you think about modifying Social Security today by having people invest some of their Social Security "with-holdings" in the stock market?

[mommanuke]

Yes! that would have been great for those invested in the market when it dropped by 50% in 2008!

[tonalc2]

I think it would be an incredibly stupid idea.

[yogicskier]

It's been suggested. Bush 43 actually tried to do it.

It's a dumb idea. You need that money in the fund, period. The idea that you can gamble it away in the stock market ignores a basic tenet of Social Security: the only SURE WAY to have that money is to NOT allow people to use it for speculative purposes.

As mommanuke says, if we had all been putting that money in the market before the 2008-2009 Recession, it would mostly be gone. Then what would we have done? Just let those people who invested poorly die of hunger?

If you want to invest in the market, more power to you, but you can use your post-SSI earnings for that.

[flower]

This has been proposed for many years by Republicans and conservative Dems. Social Security pays out so many types of benefits, they need as much revenue from your payroll taxes as they can get to pay for these benefits and to be there in the future if you need them. If you divert some to investing you would have to reduce benefits or eliminate some of them. You have a 401K and other investment accounts already, why do you want to invest your Social Security tax?