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with the exception of 2008 generally we were having rolling downturns . first new england would get hit , then silicon valley , then the oil patch , etc ...
each part of the country got hit with a different reason . same thing with the booms . not all areas see the same thing .
I’ve read that the jobs growth and high wages is how Trump want to solve SS problem.
Right, enough of both would do it but I'm pretty skeptical we'd get anywhere near the growth needed since by the time his policies were going into place unemployment was already extremely low. It's one thing saying you're going to spur job growth when unemployment 8-10%, completely different when we're already at full employment.
Right, enough of both would do it but I'm pretty skeptical we'd get anywhere near the growth needed since by the time his policies were going into place unemployment was already extremely low. It's one thing saying you're going to spur job growth when unemployment 8-10%, completely different when we're already at full employment.
I also have doubt how people count the unemployment rate also. Maybe more people are looking for jobs now. Before not so much.
Social Security only needs one more tax increase to make it solvent in perpetuity.
I spent 5 minutes searching on YouTube the following, but I couldn't find it.
But I do remember it.
Back in the 1970s the Postmaster General said the increase in First Class (letter) postage from 10 cents to 13 cents would be the last increase the USPS ever needed, as it would make the US Postal Service solvent in perpetuity.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mircea
So long as Social Security could keep getting new entrants to keep the ratio of workers to beneficiaries at 46:1, the scheme was sustainable, but as soon as the ratio started to decline, the only way to keep it solvent was to continually increase the FICA payroll tax.
There are other dials, buttons, and levers that could be turned, pushed, and pulled in order to keep it solvent. Raising FICA payroll taxes is one, but by no means the only, way to do it.
SS is bleeding the country around 80-100 billion a year. This number is expected to increase as more baby boomers retire.
If you go to the trustees reports. You will see a chart on revenues and expenditures. Looking at the actual payroll taxes collected and expenditures paid out, you will see the deficit. To make it look like it is solvent, you will see interest revenue. This revenue is increasing the national debt.
It doesn’t matter that the program itself claims to have reserves of 2.8 trillion, that money has been spent by the government. SS had been a slush fund for the government to exploit. But now, it is costing us 80+ billion per year in interest.
A private system would not have this happen. A private system would allow the contributions be owned by the contributor. There would be no deficits passed to future generations.
SS is bleeding the country around 80-100 billion a year. This number is expected to increase as more baby boomers retire.
If you go to the trustees reports. You will see a chart on revenues and expenditures. Looking at the actual payroll taxes collected and expenditures paid out, you will see the deficit. To make it look like it is solvent, you will see interest revenue. This revenue is increasing the national debt.
It doesn’t matter that the program itself claims to have reserves of 2.8 trillion, that money has been spent by the government. SS had been a slush fund for the government to exploit. But now, it is costing us 80+ billion per year in interest.
A private system would not have this happen. A private system would allow the contributions be owned by the contributor. There would be no deficits passed to future generations.
Accounting and reality don’t seem to be concepts you grasp very well
Those are the facts, like them or not. The numbers don’t lie.
Actually those facts aren’t facts. The interest is real and should be accounted for within SS, the fact the government has to borrow to make the payments is entirely irrelevant
Actually those facts aren’t facts. The interest is real and should be accounted for within SS, the fact the government has to borrow to make the payments is entirely irrelevant
Actually, SS gave the government a slush fund of money to spend that it was not raising on its own. To us, that is a credit card. Problem is that this credit card interest is going to be a thorn to future generations, especially if interest rates increase. Again, a private system would have eliminated the slush fund. Now, we and future generations are stuck with a system that either continues to grow deficits, requires higher payroll taxes or just plain implementation of forced redistribution. All of which are moral hazards.
Actually those facts aren’t facts. The interest is real and should be accounted for within SS, the fact the government has to borrow to make the payments is entirely irrelevant
Nope. It’s fiction. The money has already been spent.
The only sane thing to do is make the SS rate variable so the program is always cash flow neutral. The program is barely cash flow negative now. It would be insane to raise it more than the little bit needed to keep it cash flow neutral. Neutral also needs to count Federal income tax on SS income, not that it is a big number.
If everyone agreed to this, the discussion becomes how to hike the tax. Someone has to pay. Rich people already pay the employer side since they own most of the stock in the employers. They’re going to pay at least half no matter what.
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