Social Security is not going broke .. because it can't

Dungheap said:
It's quite simple, actually, becuase benefits grow based the average wage index. Let's say that scheduled initial benefits for someone born in the 1960s in 2012 dollars is on average is $18,000 and that the full benefit can be paid. That person gets $18,000 in 2012 dollars. And then let's say that the scheduled initial benefits for someone born in the 2000s is $30,000 in 2012 dollars based upon wage index projections. Well, unfortuately that person isn't going to get their scheduled benefits, they'll only get 75% of them because that's all that SS can pay. 75% of $30,000 is $22,500 and more than out 1960s birth cohort friend.

Again, see Exhibit 9:

http://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbofiles/attachments/43648-SocialSecurity.pdf
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Just curious... but why do you think they made their 'calculations' based on earnings through age 61 rather than through age 65 (the age they assume people will start with benefits)

Also... what happens when median incomes stagnate or decline as we have seen over the past four years?
 
Superfreak said:
Just curious... but why do you think they made their 'calculations' based on earnings through age 61 rather than through age 65 (the age they assume people will start with benefits)

Also... what happens when median incomes stagnate or decline as we have seen over the past four years?
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i was born in 1945 and my ss benefits did not kick in until i was 67

i expect that congress/obama will raise both the payroll tax amount paid in to ss and the ss retirement age
 
Note--the Federal government has had the use all that money, the money seniors paid into the government, for quite a while. In most circumstances, that money would earn interest--something your articles, and the articles of others, sees fit to ignore. Why is this a special circumstance, one in which interest doesn't count? If interest doesn't count, how can I get a loan like that myself?

I am NOT saying that we should privatize anything. Yeah, I could have done a better job with that money. But most people couldn't, nor should that money-making skill set be required so you don't starve to death at eighty, or seventy or sixty-seven.

Still, what has happened to that interest? Why has it disappeared from your calculations?

Is it because the Federal Government hasn't been a good steward? Perhaps it hasn't. Even if that money is now gone, do not blame seniors for that. Remember, Social Security comes from a different fund. The money trail should be easier to follow. Just remove the top from Social Security--everybody, even the very well paid, still puts in their money. That would change the demographics. That would preserve the education, infrastructure and social safety net.

please note that until lbj and the vietnam war, ss had plenty of money in it, but johnson stole that money to help pay for the war and changed the ss system from vested to pay as you go

this worked for a while because we had more money coming in than going out due to the baby boom

the problem is that now that the baby boomers are retiring, there are not enough people paying into the ss system to keep it going at 100%
 
Darla said:
I don't know if most Gen X'ers believe SS will be there for them or not. I have not seen any polling specifically asking us. But I am not sure how relevant that is. It really doesn't matter what most people believe. Facts matter.

SS is not in any serious trouble. I know you just believe otherwise, but it's not, and since I do read about it, and do pay attention to it, I am not going to all of a sudden believe otherwise. I am not concerned about SS, unless, this propaganda works to the extent of fooling most Americans. I don't think it's happened yet, and so as long as it's not fucked with too badly, it'll be there for me.
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Talk about denial. LOL
You're a joke.
The SSA was cited earlier in the thread and even THEY say there's a problem.
 
Thing1 said:
Most people in our generation - and we're relatively close in age - don't even think benefits will be there when we retire, much less 75% of them.

I'm open to all kinds of options on this, but one thing I find unacceptable is a head-buried-in-sand, "it'll all be okay" approach. SS is not paying for itself anymore. It's not sustainable.
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Oh that's been going on ever since SS started. The younger generation bitches and moans that there won't be any SS left by the time they reach retirement cause the previous generation will have used it all up or some how fucked the program up. My fathers generation complained about his fathers generation and I complained about my fathers generation and Gen X's complain about us Boomers. I don't see why GenXers complain as they've done nothing to "earn" SS....they think they're just simply entitled to it. I guess that's why Gen Xers are called "The entitled" generation. They feel their entitled to everything.
 
Mott the Hoople said:
Oh that's been going on ever since SS started. The younger generation bitches and moans that there won't be any SS left by the time they reach retirement cause the previous generation will have used it all up or some how fucked the program up. My fathers generation complained about his fathers generation and I complained about my fathers generation and Gen X's complain about us Boomers. I don't see why GenXers complain as they've done nothing to "earn" SS....they think they're just simply entitled to it. I guess that's why Gen Xers are called "The entitled" generation. They feel their entitled to everything.
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So is the S.S. Trust Fund report full of shit? So even though the report shows the trust fund scheduled to run out when Gen Xers retire we're the selfish ones? You rant just reinforces the correct stereotype of the boomers being the most selfish generation. Then when younger generations talk about changes to S.S. to make it sustainable the Boomers cry bloody murder. Seriously, your generation sucks. My parents are boomers to so I throw them in there as well.
 
cawacko said:
So is the S.S. Trust Fund report full of shit? So even though the report shows the trust fund scheduled to run out when Gen Xers retire we're the selfish ones? You rant just reinforces the correct stereotype of the boomers being the most selfish generation. Then when younger generations talk about changes to S.S. to make it sustainable the Boomers cry bloody murder. Seriously, your generation sucks. My parents are boomers to so I throw them in there as well.
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That's one of the things that drives me a little batty in this debate. People talk about SS being "fine" for another 18 years like that's something to brag about.
 
Superfreak said:
IF they do nothing and arbitrarily cut benefits by 25% it will be considered a default by the US government. In terms of faith and credit the US will lose credibility. If you think people are going to continue paying into a system that can fuck them over to that extent without recourse... you are nuts.
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They are not going to do nothing and default, hack.
 
They will have to default eventually. They just won't do it by choice. The same thing will happen when we default in our interest payments on the national debt - we won't choose to, we just won't have enough money.
 
Thing1 said:
The "easy fix, just needs a tweak" line is pretty much a myth. The tweak that SS needs is more & more revenue. Which means higher taxes. Which means more money from other programs.

And the only way to avoid a 25% cut in benefit payouts is - you guessed it - higher taxes, and more money from other programs.

SS is not paying for itself. It can't. People pay into it at a time when cost of living is less than it will be when they retire, and when they retire, there will be more people, who are all living longer. In a decade or 2, they'll be living a LOT longer.
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Bullshit! Eliminate the earnings cap, done deal.
 
It will still be far from a done deal. It will just keep SS from collapsing prior to the 30's as we now know it will on the present course.
 
Rune said:
Bullshit! Eliminate the earnings cap, done deal.
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So, what I said was right then: the solution is to raise taxes.

Only 6% of the population earns more than the current cap. It's a quick fix, that doesn't last long. Try to be more creative, and think about the next generation while you're at it.

Btw, I still haven't heard a valid reason why we shouldn't privatize, other than how it benefits those "fat cats" on Wall St.
 
SuperstringTheory said:
When have they have ever improved? They are not just based on Pollyanna economic projections but on other factors that are usually skewed to benefit the ssa.

In 2007 we had until 2042. Just 6 years later exhaustion will have been moved to 2031. We will have lost 11 years from the back end in 6 years.

It's not going to get better. It's going to get worse.
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The economy has been tumbling that entire time.
 
Superfreak said:
The 'cost' of $2T is simply wrong. It is shifting the amount owed and paying for it in a different time. The costs of privatizing 100%, privatizing 50% or privatizing 0% are all the same. It is, again, simply a matter of when/how we pay for it. What privatization will do is highlight the unfunded liability we face so that people like you will realize it is not sustainable under the current system.




I would not take anything of hers. Privatization would be an OPTION. People could CHOOSE to take a portion and put it into a private account or they could choose to leave it as is.
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Why do you state your wishes as if they were facts?
 
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