Gutting Social Security

I have often heard a lot of infantile complaints about the American Social Security system that I think are genuinely unfair to the friendly and knowledgeable employees I have met there.

Most Americans treat the compulsory Social Security monies subtracted from their paychecks as losses, when in fact they are assets in securing their own futures...I personally would not have been able to survive M.S. if not for the money I paid into the Social Security system before age 37, when I became SEVERELY disabled.

And having met some Social Security employees face-to-face, I'm now fully aware that they do so much with so little, so I really appreciate these folks.

The whole idea that private organizations could do a better job is just ridiculous. You need a lot more than profit-motive to protect our country's aging and disabled populations.

You can't buy empathy, but many employees of Social Security understand because they have relatives who are themselves aged or disabled--hence they have genuine experience actually helping people--experience that cannot be underestimated.

It's not a perfect system...but it works, largely because of the people running it. I think trying to monkey with it now would only hurt America.

Let's just hope the Veteran's Administration is ready for the tens-of-thousands of soldiers returning from war.