For any readers of a certain age, your thoughts may be turning to ongoing reports about the burgeoning national debt and rumors that Congress is considering making changes to programs such as Social Security. I can relate, as I'm already being hit with a deluge of mail both from the government and various private insurance schemes saying that I'll be turning 65 soon and there's all sorts of information I "need" to know first. But what is the state of the Social Security system and is it in need of major changes? Do people rely on it too much? Conservative political commentator Ben Shapiro (also sometimes known as Dr. Dreidel) recently shared some thoughts on the program and shocked many people when he suggested that nobody should expect to be receiving payments that early and that we need to raise the official retirement age. Let's just say that not everyone is a fan of that view. (AOL Online)

Americans can start receiving their Social Security retirement benefit as early as age 62. But should they?

According to lawyer and political commentator Ben Shapiro on an episode of “The Ben Shapiro Show,” it’s “insane” that the U.S. hasn’t raised the official retirement age.

“[President] Joe Biden has technically been eligible for Social Security and Medicare for 16 years, and he wants to continue in office until he is 86, which is 19 years past when you would be eligible for retirement,” Shapiro says.

Shapiro went on to say that retirement "is a stupid idea unless you have some sort of health problem." He opined that anyone who retires while they are still able to work will "lose their purpose in life" and then "“things go to hell in a handbasket real quick.” At a minimum, he believes that the retirement age should have been raised before now. And to be fair, he does offer a couple of potentially valid points. When the age of 65 was originally established, the average life expectancy of Americans was less than 61. Most people wouldn't live to see it. Today the expectancy is closer to 80 (though it's been decreasing a bit lately). 

While Shapiro doesn't delve into it much during the interview, it's also worth noting that the Social Security program is in significant financial trouble. After decades of surpluses, an aging population combined with fewer young people working is draining it. And you can forget about the legendary Social Security "trust fund." It doesn't exist. It's a series of IOUs that the fund receives while the government spends all the actual money that comes in above and beyond people's SS deductions. And the government is so far in debt that it can barely breathe.

Now, with all of that said, I'm not going to make the leap and say that we should all forget about retirement and throw in the towel. First of all, Ben Shapiro is all of 40 years old and appears to still be in robust health. Get back to us in twenty-five years and tell us how you're feeling then, kid. Also, those of us approaching the threshold have been paying into the system for more than forty years without ever being given a choice in the matter. The government made a contract with us and it needs to honor it.

That doesn't mean that changes can't or shouldn't be made. But they would need to be implemented incrementally. Sure, we can begin raising the retirement age, but it should only apply to those who have a few decades left to plan ahead and take that into account. Let's start off by raising it for people who are forty today. You know... like Ben Shapiro. Also, the system needs more flexibility. Working people should have the option of taking at least a portion of the money that is currently withheld for Social Security and have it put into secure, federally-backed retirement accounts in their names held in private institutions. Then there would at least be a slightly better chance that some of it will be there when they're ready to retire and it won't have all been flushed away by the swamp-dwellers in Washington.

There are other improvements that could probably be made. Of course, this is all hypothetical because it makes too much sense and that's not how D.C. operates. We'll probably just keep shaking the imaginary money tree in the Rose Garden until the entire system is busted and the country loses its credit rating. They everyone will learn about how life was prior to the era of Social Security. I can assure you that most will not enjoy the experience at all.