.... Social security could just pay a lump sum, or social security could pay out what is actually owed in accordance to the real cost of living, and real time inflation... You could have both, social security and a personal investment. You can also invest your social security payment, like most politicians do.... But social security needs to stop giving checks to non citizens, and make new rules for immigrants that come over work 10 years gain dual citizenship then leave with social security retirement benefits. Wrong... That's why medicare is only good in the USA, same should go for social security, only received if US citizen, cannot be paid out to dual citizens, and reserved to natural born citizens. Or a 30 year tax history for immigrants who make claims for social security or social security disability.

Ss has always been non sustainable. Basically, after the depression, everyone was dead broke. They were going to vote the entire gov out. In a last ditch effort they came up with "the new deal". It was some bs trade laws but it also had ss . So,....the silent generation agreed that tomorrow will pay for their retirement today lol. They've been telling us for 40 years ss will end . I'm not sure why everyone Is surprised. It's literally written on their website

Social security would be just fine if it was reserved for American citizens only. Social security has problems because they spent so much money paying employees to proces temporary ss# for immigrants, immigration turned citizen paperwork, issuing new social security numbers. The program would be just fine if that money wasn't going towards other programs in social security besides retirement and disability. Check out your state ss office and most of the people in line are not there to get retirement. Name changes, temporary ss# to work, you name it. Non citizens SSI, crazy how social security pays more to a noncitizens than it does to a homeless person, which is also crazy because technically if you don't have a address the rules of receiving social security change for SSI recipients... To much red tape for a homeless citizen, but easy peazy for a non citizens. Plus all the money waisted on translation equipment, who even knows... I support a social security program, but it is true that sure forced health care, and a forced set non liveable wage, red tape and rules to follow, but it has helped the elderly, widows and their children, it just hasn't kept up with modern times, and somehow rules are skewing the access of some individuals over others.

In 1972 SSI became available for anyone who qualified including non citizens... We didn't have the amount of permanent non citizen residents in 1972 like we do today.

Your suggested policy is a bit too anti-LEGAL immigrant for my taste.

Take my wife for example. She a LEGAL immigrant and now a citizen, who pretty much embodies the American Dream, because she has a work ethic that puts most Americans to shame and she's used that work ethic to become more successful than most natural born citizens. She's never taken a penny of govt assistance. She embodies what this country should want / demand of its LEGAL immigrants. Smart, hard working, independent. She's became a business owner after becoming a citizen. So, she's a net positive for this country any way you look at it. When someone like her is forced to pay into the same ponzi scam known as social security that we're all forced to pay into, they should have the same rights as any other legal citizen to receive benefits. There's no legitimate reason for someone like her to be denied benefits. So, please rethink your views on this, and come up with a better set of criteria to filter out those who are truly scamming the system.

I guess the main issue is illegal residents and temporary residents are applying for social security once they don't find work. Refugees are also automatically included in to SSI along with programs specifically for refugees. I guess as with any citizen, a person needs to accrual so many points to access full benefits with the exception of SSI. I guess the main problem I have with the system, is that their are people accessing it and not paying into it. We also have individuals who work hard for 10 years and become a citizen, and decide to pull social security and leave the country. I guess 20 years of work and citizenship should be a requirement with exceptions for qualifed disability. How would we stop the system from going solivant if everyone has paid into it?

Thanks for taking the time to reply. Everything you just mentioned as a problem seems like a legitimate problem to me as well. I took issue with what I perceived to be a proposed sweeping solution that would result in penalizing productive legal immigrants. As you no doubt realized based on my reply to your original post, I'm very big on the distinction between legal and illegal immigrants. A distinction which the left and the media rarely seems to make.

"I guess the main problem I have with the system, is that their are people accessing it and not paying into it."

I agree 100%. I think we need to secure the border, then address this. If both can be done simultaneously, all the better.

"We also have individuals who work hard for 10 years and become a citizen, and decide to pull social security and leave the country."

I agree that this is a problem. And it's a tricky one. What comes to mind as a possible template for a solution could be payout restrictions similar to vesting with employer benefits like a 401(k) or a pension plan. Better yet, if it could be enforced, maybe the benefits should be conditional on remaining in this country? That seems pretty reasonable. Being married to a legal immigrant, I know that it would be fairly easy for someone to leave the country but still claim their permanent residence as the US. That would be wrong, but I get the motivation. It's got to be very tempting when the exchange rates are considered. A person can live quite well in some countries on a relatively small amount of US currency. But just because one can do something, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do, or should be legal.

I don't have the solution for keeping these huuuuge govt entitlement program solvent. Simple math can identify the problem, which is more money going out than is coming in. For SS some contributing reasons are obvious, the primary reason being the varying rates of reproduction for the different generations. It's hard to pay for the boomers when subsequent generations have been reproducing at a reduced rate. For other entitlement programs, the solution may be as simple as running them efficiently. So, I'm hoping that once DOGE gets done weeding out obvious ridiculous pork in the budget, they'll be able to focus on making government agencies and programs more efficient. Maybe they can remain solvent by being efficient. It's certainly worth a try, imo.

I totally agree. My emotions get in the way sometimes when it comes to social security, and possibly not being able to access it at the full payout in the future. I know it's not something to rely on, but for the poor wage , small business employee worker, it's all I've been able to count on.