$53 Trillion Asteroid

[JenLee]

Social Security was meant as a safety net for poor people who couldn't work or were too old to work. However, it has become a retirement plan for everyone. Why the rich should be able to draw on it and why they have a cap on how much they have to pay in is beyond me.

The system really needs an overhaul and I believe that part of the overhaul should involve a thorough look at how payments are made and to whom they are made. Maybe a sliding scale according to how much of a pension is saved, or something?

[70Ford]

Originally Posted by Waterboy526

... My generation (I'm 30) is screwed. ....

I'm 36 and I'm not screwed. Because I'm saving and investing. Because I'm not waiting for the hand out that will not come.

What would be hilarious would be if they instituted a special "tax" when you get to 65 where, if you have over a certain amount of money, you'd have to pay for someone who didn't save.

They'd call it "The ant and the grasshopper" act.

[Niners fan]

Originally Posted by 70Ford

What would be hilarious would be if they instituted a special "tax" when you get to 65 where, if you have over a certain amount of money, you'd have to pay for someone who didn't save.

They'd call it "The ant and the grasshopper" act.

LOL! You have a demented sense of humor. But don't be surprised when you and I hit 65 in few decades if you prove to be very prescient.

There is going to have to be some type of means-testing involved at some point.

[lchoro]

Originally Posted by sean98125

That's $53 trillion over how long a period? 50 years? 80? What does he mean by the "promises we've made"? Assuming that everyone alive now, including infants, will be covered by the program? Does the amount include the adjusted amount for inflation in 2050, or is it in 2008 dollars?

It's a meaningless number if he doesn't let us know precisely what he's measuring.

Almost all of it is Medicare and Medicare D, the latter a new program under Bush.

Social Security has a 7 trillion dollar shortfall over 75 years.

If you applied the same accounting to the future costs of the 10 trillion dollar budget debt run by defense spending and discretionary programs through the last year of Bush's administration, there's another 40 trillion dollars in future obligations to repay foreign governments, state and local governments, investors, and government trust funds. Assuming they continue to run big deficits, this figure will almost certainly grow considerably higher over time. Bush has already borrowed 400 billion dollars in the first half of the current fiscal year.