I have an updating problem… I think this is simply because my life is boring and nothing interesting worth writing about happens. Therefore, I’m going to write an opinion entry. I will try to be more consistent with my updates from now on.

I have been working for the past three weeks. Work is extremely boring and to keep myself sane, I read articles online about everything ranging from news to consumerism to politics to web design. Everyday I read an article or two that I want to react to, but I’m just so lazy that I don’t write anything. Today will be different =].

This morning, I read Robert J. Samuelson’s article “Why Social Security Should Go Broke” from Newsweek. I have to say, I kind of want to agree with the article. However, I have a better idea than allowing Social Security to “go broke.” Social Security should be optional. I do not see why my generation and people in their twenties must have a part of our paycheck taken for Social Security if we are not going to get any. The Social Security tax should be required for those who want it, only. Is it our fault that the government decided to “borrow” money from the Social Security fund as if it were a bank? No. Then why must we pay for Social Security that we won’t receive? It should just be optional. I rather keep the money from my paycheck to save for my increasing college debt.

Samuelson makes the point that there is now a higher life expectancy than from the time that Social Security was proposed. The logical thing to do would be to raise the retirement age. However, people will only complain because I had noticed that a lot of Americans are not interested in changes as these. Americans don’t want higher taxes or anything of that nature, but they do want more funding. Where would that funding come from? Our $11.3 trillion debt will only increase if people are not willing to sacrifice for the things that they desire.

Okay, I diverted from the topic of Social Security. It amazes me that a lot of people that I know are still spending  a high amount  on unnecessary things to feed their expensive tastes and for entertainment, yet they complain about a recession and how they owe a lot of money to the credit card companies. I think that if people really want change to happen, they need to sacrifice certain things and change their lifestyles. I am not saying that everyone does this, but through daily observations, I see a lot of people doing these things.

Please note that I am not a Democrat and I am not a Republican. If your opinion differs from mine or even if you agree, I would love to hear what you think about this controversial topic.

Plug: Simply Precious