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The trust fund for Social Security will go broke in 2041 — a year earlier than previously estimated — the trustees reported Wednesday. Trustees also said that Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly and disabled, faces insolvency in 2020
No, I've seen the 2008 report. The difference is a technical (actually political) one. The Social Security retirement trust fund (which also funds survivors benefits) is projected to be exhausted in 2042. But by combining it with the separate disability trust fund, which itself is projected to be exhausted in 2025, you can make the combined number for the two funds move back to 2041. That's actually the same combined date as last year. In 2006, the combined date was 2040...
Last edited by saganista; 03-25-2008 at 06:04 PM..
The trust fund for Social Security will go broke in 2041 — a year earlier than previously estimated — the trustees reported Wednesday. Trustees also said that Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly and disabled, faces insolvency in 2020
I read a full article about this and it said that the problem is the Social Security funds are FUNDING OTHER THINGS! So why on Earth won't they STOP raiding Social Security to pay for God-knows-what?!
I wrote to my congressman in 2005 about this when the first "study" results were released. I let him know my concerns being that I am not eligible to begin to collect Social Security until after 2042. His office sent me a link to a presentation he made to local constituants; the presentation assured me that I would still receive a maximum of 70% of my eligible benefits...
So after paying into this abyss my entire life I'll see a minimum reduction of 30%.
I'd rather take all that money and buy GOLD with it...
I read a full article about this and it said that the problem is the Social Security funds are FUNDING OTHER THINGS! So why on Earth won't they STOP raiding Social Security to pay for God-knows-what?!
Propaganda. SS is normally a pay-as-you-go program. Today's payroll taxes received from active workers pay for today's benefits paid to retired workers. But that won't take us through the baby boomer years, so since 1983, everyone working in a covered position has been paying in more than what is needed to cover current benefits. That excess is being deposited in the SS Trust Fund, and the corpus of that fund is invested in US Treasury securities, the safest investment vehicle in the history of the world. President Bush himself has a very significant portion of his personal fortune invested in such securities.
Whenever the Treasury sells such a security, even if it's just a $50 US Savings Bond, the cash proceeds are deposited into the Treasury General Fund. When Congress appropriates funds to the FBI or DOD or the National Park Service or to any other agency, money is transferred from the General Fund to the operating accounts of the agency involved. If all of the General Fund money is already gone, Treasury borrows what it needs instead by selling even more securities. The fact that say $200 billion was in the General Fund as the result of SS having invested in Treasury securities means that Treasury has $200 billion more that it can appropriate directly, and that it will therefore need to borrow $200 billion less from the private sector during that year.
It is worth noting that this is exactly what corporations do with the proceeds of their own bond sales. They use those proceeds for something else -- new equipment or a plant expansion. You do the same. If you take out a car loan, you do not put the money into an account from which to pay back the loan. You use the money for something else -- buying a car. There is no difference -- except to propagandists -- in the government's use of the cash proceeds from its sale of Treasury securities to the Social Security Trust Fund...
I wrote to my congressman in 2005 about this when the first "study" results were released.
The first "study" results were released in 1941.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MamaBee
I let him know my concerns being that I am not eligible to begin to collect Social Security until after 2042. His office sent me a link to a presentation he made to local constituants; the presentation assured me that I would still receive a maximum of 70% of my eligible benefits...
No, assuming that nothing at all is done and the projected numbers become the actual numbers, you would receive a minimum of 78% of scheduled benefits in 2042, slowly declining to about 75% by 2082. Because of the way scheduled benefits are calculated, 78% of benefits payable in 2042 would be worth considerably more than what 100% of benefits are worth today.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MamaBee
So after paying into this abyss my entire life I'll see a minimum reduction of 30%. I'd rather take all that money and buy GOLD with it...
The trust fund for Social Security will go broke in 2041 — a year earlier than previously estimated — the trustees reported Wednesday. Trustees also said that Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly and disabled, faces insolvency in 2020
Why is that? We're finally getting a more accurate portrayal of the huge net benefit seen on our system from illegal immigrants (termed 'other immigrants' by the trustees). 2008 Trustees Report: Section IV.B, Long-range estimates
As illegal immigrants tend to be younger, have more children, and often fail to collect the benefits they paid into, they are a huge benefit to the system.
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