Reparations

Sunday February 27 2005

My birthday is on February 29. Needless to say it is very annoying only having a birthday every 4th year. With all the technology we have today couldn’t someone rework the calendar to eliminate the stupid leap year? Equally annoying is the Social Security Reform issue. Let’s take a moment to analyze the two.

Leap Year / Social Security Reform only becomes a topic of conversation every 4 years and no one does anything about either. Probably the best solution to both problems is elimination. What about the money that’s already been collected? Well what happens to the money that has been conned out of good people in a Ponzi Scheme? Sadly that money is gone forever. I opted out of Social security when I turned 16. I have socked money away into a private interest bearing account and will retire in style.

The government should, however, take whatever money is currently in Social Security, divide it equally amongst eligible recipients over the age of 65. Then they should liquidate the remaining assets i.e. computers office furniture etc… and close all the offices across the country. Those proceeds should be applied to a Leap Year Birthday Reparations Program whereby every living Leap Year Birthday Survivor would receive a check. Of course in order to be fair the check should adjusted for the age of the recipients. Let’s not forget that the government will have to subsidize this program in order to have enough money for each Leap Year Birthday Survivor to retire on comfortably.

Obviously I and others like me who have opted out of Social Security would not be eligible for Leap Year Reparations but there would surely be some loopholes that we could exploit.

On the surface this sounds like a very expensive program and it is but can we afford to do nothing? By 2018 the gap between assets and deficits will reverse, forcing the government to repay the money it has been skimming from the program since it's inception in 1935. By 2042 Social Security will be completely defunct. This is further complicated by the enormous number of Leap Year Babies born between now and then. Clearly something must be done, before it's too late.

Copyright © 2005 Quaid Davis. All rights reserved.