Solution to the Social Security Problem – Thoughts From The Middle of Nowhere

There has been a lot of talk over the past few months about the Social Security system. The <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/03/31/build/nation/65-bush-ss.inc" target="_new">President</a> is destroying/saving the system depending on who you talk to and people are trying to figure the whole situation out. The one thing that both sides of the debate agree on is that the system will run out of money down the road, about <a href="http://www.billingsgazette.com//index.php?id=1&display=rednews/2005/03/31/build/business/35-personal-finance.inc" target="_new">2041</a> is the current estimate, and something probably needs done but what to do is where the real debate lays. n nThe stated reason that Social Security is going to run out of money is that there is not enough young people coming along paying the bills for the older people that are retiring. Keeping this fact in mind I think Australia has the solution for our Social Security problem. <a href="http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AUSTRALIA_BABY_BOOM?SITE=APWEB&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&reload=true" target="_new">Pay people to have more kids</a>. n n<blockquote>In announcing the payments in May 2004, Treasurer Peter Costello told the country: "You go home and do your patriotic duty tonight." n nThe father of three suggested that two children per couple was not enough to combat the effects of an aging population: "You should have … one for your husband, one for your wife, and one for your country."</blockquote> n nInstead of having "one for your country" though we could make it "one for the Social Security system" or "one for those who can't anymore" or some such thing. Does anybody else have a better slogan? This sure sounds like a plan to me <img src="http://www.sarpysam.com/templates/default/img/emoticons/smile.png" alt=":-)" class="emoticon" />. n nAny solution to a problem changes the problem. R.W. Johnson