By James “Buffalo” Saint Amour ’10
THE ROUNDUP

Social Security is a hot topic today, from national to local elections it seems this government program has gotten a lot of attention.

Everyone has heard about Social Security, most students might think it’s something that old people use when they don’t work anymore, and they are right.

Social Security works like this: When you get a paycheck you pay a certain amount to the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), a fancy way of saying insurance tax, and this tax money goes into a humongous piggy bank.

This piggy bank in turn pays the people who used to pay into it, and who are now using the money the government allots to them as their steady income.

But the problem is there are currently more people taking money out of piggy bank than people are putting in.

So what is going to happen when the money eventually runs out?

Well those who are relying on the government to pay for their retirement are going to be left high and dry.

This is why in recent years there has been much debate about whether or not to privatize social security.

Proposals vary, but the basic idea is to allow people to set aside a portion of their FICA contributions however they see fit.

This way in case the piggy bank runs dry, you will still be able to rely on your private portion of the money.

And I say why not, the government is good at many things: making and enforcing laws, keeping a standing army and spending a ton of money that does not match the current system.

By privatizing the country’s retirement system people get the option to manage their own retirement funds.

Let’s face it, who knows your money or what you want to do with it better, you or the government?