I’m a Business Appraiser and a Businessman and I’ve been paying careful attention to all the Presidential Debates. I also was a Financial Planner and a CFP years ago, so like so many others, I am horrified at the Trillions of USA debt and the huge interest on the debt service.
The debate really touched a raw nerve when they debated the Social Security issue. One candidate says, “We are not touching it. My Mom is here and she relies on here Social Security check!” Another says, “We can’t afford it.” Another says, “The Social Security Administration is broke. There is no money.” Another says, “Listen up folks, the government stole your money! They took it from your paycheck and they squandered it. All that’s left is a trillion dollars of IOU’s”
These are not exact quotes, but its pretty much the way I remember it and I wanted to throw up! My Mom depends on that Social Security check. I have a chunk taken out of my pay check and I’m sure it is not being invested for MY future! It’s being used to pay current benefits and even so, it comes up way short.
One of the younger candidates admitted that younger workers are paying in and already know it won’t be there for them when they get to retirement, and also that they need to pay in more and more.
One explained that there were 20 workers contributing for every 1 retiree drawing out from it 50 years ago and now its 3 paying for 1 drawing out. Since the government did not save and invest these “Trust Funds”, all ANY candidate can say is, “Raise taxes, pay in more, and we all just go deeper and deeper in debt.”
The only partial option presented was to all young people to diversify some of the mandatory confiscation into self directed savings account.
But that doesn’t help the current Baby Boomers retiring by the millions.
So, I have a solution to offer.
It’s pretty doggone radical, but if you stop and think it through, it could return a degree of sanity to our entertainment crazed population and fund social security to a new extent without directly taxing us working stiffs and business owners more and more.
Does anyone deny that professional athletes make crazy money?
Where am I going with this?
I am talking about a fundamental about face in an area that is truly insane.
So follow me. Why do we pay athletes millions of dollars? Answer, because the leagues and the games and the owners take in billions. The players who actually do the playing want a fair piece of that.
Okay, now let’s look at College sports. Again, billions of dollars happening there, but athletes get nothing. Why? Answer, someone made the rules that way a long time ago. The idea was college was to get more knowledge and sports was to keep you healthy and fit.
Somehow this has gotten all turned around. The college athletes are over the top, the average Joe is not on the team. The athletes are busting their butts to get drafted out of college. And to to serve in the military! So, call it a delayed pay check.
Now, insanity #1, if college sports generate billions and if the players get zip, why isn’t college tuition going down?
Answer, the money follows the money and sports is King. If you think a college education prepares our young men and women for the work a day world, just look at the employment stats. Sure, a degree in engineering or computer science is more of an exception. And going to grad school for medicine or law would be also. But the VAST majority of the college classes are social engineering and today’s headlines back up my point.
Now let’s look at Professional Sports – and yes, I’m getting to the solution of Social Security funding.
Why do they have to charge so much for tickets? (1) Because they can. (2) Because if the tickets were $5.00 and $20 for best seats there would be ten times more people to buy tickets then there are seats in a stadium. (3) Because The team Owner’s paid millions for the Team and want an huge ROI (4) Because there is a lot of politics. (5) The players want to make millions too. (6) No one would watch on TV if it was so cheap to go in person and the Advertisers generate billions also.
Now what if we used this insane wealth for Social Security?
How? I’ll outline this in my next BLOG, this one is getting too long!