Quote:
Originally Posted by Evil_inKarlate
Yes, and Enron had self-produced glowing annual reports up 'til the very end themselves. If one wants to believe in the solvency of SS, I can see where these charts could provide fodder for doubts of the doom-sayers, but there is no actual proof that they are wrong mixed in with the evidence that they are right.
The SSA is happy to send me a letter every year with large type saying "When you retire, you'll get $X/month, and you've only had to contribute $YK!" Conveniently burying in the small print the fact that X is based on continued 'contributions' for another 20 yrs, which are not reflected in Y, and with only a passing mention that both the SS cash flow and fictitious 'trust fund' are expected to go negative in my lifetime. Hardly something to inspire trust.
You mean because all we have to do is go ask the tooth fairy for our trust funds back? If you want to actually See the trust fund, look for letter from your bank at the beginning of the month labelled "Bank Statement" because those IOUs will be paid by you, and me, and us, in the form of higher taxes. If something can be considered solvent purely on the basis of increasing taxes to cover the costs, then we can declare all the financial woes in our country solved right now!
The crisis doesn't even start in 10 yrs - It starts now, because we'll have less and less 'SS slush fund' money available to prop up our other Unconstitutional spending programs long before SS becomes a net expense.
Heck, I don't expect to see a penny of my SS "contributions" and I'm 40!
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I expect Social Security to pay benefits in full as long as the United States exists as a democracy.
All retired people love Social Security, and as retired people become a larger and larger percentage of the vote, Social Security becomes more entrenched than ever.
Even in 2040, when the Trust Fund runs out, the system will be collecting 75% to 80% of what it needs to pay benefits, and a small tax increase makes that problem go away.
The party that tries to do away with Social Security writes off one of the biggest voting blocks in the country, and I don't think it's politically possible.
You'd be pitting young people, who don't even vote in large numbers against huge numbers of retired people who vote in very large numbers (because they have all day).
Especially in light of the shifting demographics of the country, and the recent failures of so many private pension plans, I think you'll be seeing the government playing a much larger roll in retirement funding, which is more the norm in the industrialized world.
They'll eliminate the military before they cut Social Security.