Now, however, the CBO has determined that Social Security will run cash deficits next year and in 2011, and by 2016 will be more or less in permanent deficit mode. Hot Air has exclusively obtained the summer 2009 CBO report sent to legislators on Capitol Hill but not yet made public, which shows that outgo will exceed income for the first time since the 1983 fix on an annual basis in 2010…
Read it all and follow the links to the discussion by Steve at No Runny Eggs also
Bernie Madoff gets arrested for running a Ponzi scheme. Business as usual for the U.S. government. See [url=http://wannabeanglican.blogspot.com/2009/09/its-official-social-security-is-ponzi.html ]wannabe Anglican[/url] for more links.
what can you expect from a Ponzi scheme? Such a shame that no politician has the guts to say it, they’re all afraid of the AARP.-(
Oh, but this cannot be true. Just yesterday, I received my annual Social Security Statement. Commissioner Michael J. Astrue assured me on the first page that we would not begin paying more in benefits than we collect in taxes until 2017 and that the trust fund would not be exhausted until 2041.
I remember how soundly the Bush Administration was castigated for their “doom and gloom” projections about Social Security and how conservatives were demonized at the time for wanting to begin private accounts. I clearly recall countering the Liberal arguments by reminding them of Al Gore’s promised lock box for Social Security and that if the system needed such a safeguard, it was not on a sound footing and that we should consider personal accounts.
I was roundly criticized for believing the “doom and gloom” projections about the future of the Social Security System, and was reassured by Liberal commentators that everything was fine. There was NO SOCIAL SECURITY CRISIS. That was all a figment of fevered conservative imaginations bent on destroying the security of elderly folks.
Well, I told those fine folks on the Left that time would tell and that the ponzi scheme of Social Security would crash like all ponzi schemes eventually crash. There is no “trust fund”. There are only IOUs. The demographics are relentless. There will soon only be two workers paying into the system for every one recipient. That is not economically sustainable. BTW, that does not include Medicare.
I should very much like a refund of my years of Social Security payments. Let those that are retired withdraw all that they ever put into the system, with 5% interest, minus whatever payments they have received to date. Let those of us that have not retired receive all that we paid into the system with the same returns as we would have gotten with US Savings Bonds over the same period of time that we had our money taken from us.
Then, if there is to be a Social Security system in the future, let it be private accounts owned by those that pay into the system.
Of course, we will never do that. We will just continue on as we have until the system is bankrupt.
The site is “Hot Air,” not “Hat Air.”
Some Social security income for these years has been applied by companies to meeting former employees Cobra payments (health insurance). When an employee is laid off the governemt has the former employer pay 70% of the insurance cost then deduct that amount from SSI payments.
I too believe that the system will crash. However, I don’t regret my payments into Social Security over the years. I figure I helped pay for my mom’s retirement and that of other people in the generation before me. That’s good.
If I thought that my Social Security payments paid for my parents retirements, I wouldn’t mind so much. However, the fact is that it isn’t a 1:1 system. It is a ponzi scheme, imposed by past generations, that requires multiple workers being taxed for each individual that is retired. The demographics, as I have said, are relentless. We will soon be at the point where there are only 2 workers available to pay support for each retiree. That is not sustainable. Fifty percent of each worker’s income would go to just paying Social Security. Lump in another few percent for Medicare. That leaves about 48% of each worker’s income. Then, there are state, local, and municipal taxes. For average folks, that comes to about 25% of their income. That leaves only 23% of each worker’s income…with which they are supposed to save for their retirement, pay for their health care, buy food, and have a place to live. Oh yes, they will also be supporting the Church and charities with that remaining 23%.
I don’t want to be enslaved on that plantation, thank you. Nor do I want my children and grandchildren to be in servitude for their entire lives. Did you know that the ancient Egyptians, after the famine and Joseph’s “rescue” were enslaved to Pharaoh. Yet, they were only required to give to Pharaoh 20%. Being a slave under Pharaoh was a better deal than being a “free” citizen of the United States of America. Genesis 47 is a real eye opener. Let my people go!
Oops…critical flaw in my thinking above. While there will only be two workers paying into social security for each retiree, that does not mean that each worker will be paying half their income. Currently, each worker provides 6.5% of their income to social security, and that is while we have 3.3 workers for each retiree. I do not have the projected Social Security tax rate required to support retirees when there are only 2 workers per retiree. However, the current path of 3.3 workers per retiree paying 6.5% of their income is already failing. I suspect that the combined Social Security tax on the employee and employer will climb above 15% if we wish to continue the program. But then again, Medicare costs are rising faster than Social Security costs, so while my inititial numbers were off significantly, my premise remains valid.