While the feds ... leave Social Security off their books, the government's obligation to make benefit payments to current and near-term Social Security recipients is certainly no less real than its obligation to pay interest on its Treasury bonds.

Retirement is a waste of time. The economy needs you!

You might think that Social Security's family benefit maximum is what it sounds like, a straightforward dollar ceiling on the total amount that you, your spouse, and your children can receive on your earnings record and that the same ceiling would apply to everyone. But you'd be wrong. For starters, there's a rather weird and arguably unfair formula for calculating the family benefit maximum.

While the feds ... leave Social Security off their books, the government's obligation to make benefit payments to current and near-term Social Security recipients is certainly no less real than its obligation to pay interest on its Treasury bonds.

Either we pay the government's bills, or we leave them for our kids to pay. It's that simple.

If you are advocating full retirement benefits starting at 60, my reaction is the system is already 31 percent underfinanced and can not afford what it's now doing, let alone such a policy change.

The United States has experienced high rates of inflation in the past and appears to be running the same type of fiscal policies that engendered hyperinflations in 20 countries over the past century.