Really? I don’t begrudge people their checks, but I’m not going to retire for forty years, and I 've paid into it for nearly eight years so far. What are the odds that SOS is even going to exist that far from now, especially since the population is getting older, which will soon cause the number of people on it to balloon? Since people keep saying it’s nearly bankrupt now, I’m not terribly optimistic about seeing returns from any of the money I’ve put into it or will continue to put into until it’s done away with.
Can we keep this thread on track please? This is not about SS in general or its future but about a very concrete piece of news. Can you please start another thread if you would like to discuss SS? I would like to keep this thread focused on the OP which I believe desereves very close scrutiny.
Sailor, I read the linked article. I see that it says that it is a reciprocal program (sorry I overlooked that). I’m am just curious as to see what benefits I would receive if I was working in Mexico. Are they equal in amounts and services? Just curious.
In the first place there are far fewer Americans working down here than the other way around. The Mexican Social Security program is structured much different than that of the USA. Most of the burden falls on the employer, I pay 37% to SS on my payroll and my employees, all Mexican, pay nothing. Once an employee’s salary surpasses a certain level they pay 2%.
The benefits are more geared to health care which employees receive free. Just recently they have made a bigger push towards retirement benefits.
Everything that a Mexican worker receives is given to a foreigner that is on the rolls. Also retired foreign residents are allowed to buy into the health insurance provided by the Instituto Mexicano de Seguro Social or IMSS at a very affordable cost and a lot of them take advantage of this.
My beef with this is that he’s trying to appease Fox for not going through with the immigration reforms. It’s too bad, from the little I know about it, those immigration reforms sounded like a good idea. I am all for more relaxed immigration.
Something I don’t understand is why we don’t have reciprocal work agreements with industrialized nations. For instance, any citizen of the UK can work in the US and any citizen of the US can work in the UK. I think this should go for Canada, UK, all of Western Europe, New Zealand, Japan and Australia. It would decrease a serious fiscal burden upon companies just in man hours spent filing stupid forms with the INS, and legal fees associated.
Erek
I agree 100%. I have been saying this for a long time. The benefits would be tremedous.
**sailor, ** are you trying to leave me jobless or something? 
Unles, of course, you can think of another way I could use those U.S. work visa petition-drafting skills…
I know you are joking but there was the same argument in Europe when borders were opened for commerce and for people. Where would all the bureaucrats go to find new jobs. The answer of course is that they all found jobs and the economy is more productive having those people doing more productive things.
The USA, Canada, Europe and a few other countries with similar economic development could mutually open op their borders tomorrow and there would be no mass migrations of any kind as some fear. People mostly like to stay where they are. And the increased exchange would be tremendously positive, just like it has been for Europe internally. It would be good for the economy as companies could move people around easier. It would be good for country relations for the cultures, for everything. Hald my family is on one side of the Atlantic and half is on the other and it is really stupid that we have so much difficulty spend time on the other side. There are many young Europeans in America and many young Americans in Europe working illegally due to these dumb laws.
And don’t worry, there would always be plenty of work for you with people from other countries. In fact, Initially there is no need to open up completely. Just say every European who applies for a visa gets one. Then you will have much more work and many more customers _