Are Social Security and Medicare really going broke? (collection, accounting, debt)

[Artisan10]

I hear it often said that Social Security is going broke but this article says otherwise.

Is Social Security really 'going broke'? - Answer Desk- msnbc.com

What’s really going on?

I also often hear that Medicare is going broke. Is that so?

[cdelena]

A huge and increasing amount of dollars are required to fund SS and medicare... there is no actual 'fund' put aside. As the governent finds more things to spend money on and fewer people they can take money from it is clear it gets more difficult to fund these big programs every year. Something will have to change... your guess on what it will be.

[jasminescent]

Yes, due to inefficiencies not lack of funds... like everything the government gets its hands on.

[hindsight2020]

Unfunded liabilities, citizens living to older age, boomers, gen y/z+ opting out of having as many children leaving immigrants to the child birthing for them, the fact SS is actually a book of IOUs and not real money set aside. Yes SS will be as upside down as our country will be in 30 years.

I'm 28. If you're my age and you expect to see a dime of SS in your elder years you're watching a Disney movie. At best, you'll see a remarkably reduced benefit and a longer time period age wise to be able to collect. That's the reality of SS in 30 years. Broke or not that's where we're headed, and the boomers could care less, they'll be happily dead by then. I've personally stopped worrying about it. I have enough language skills to make an exit out of this country if it became Mad Max city once SS, medicare, and federal pension, military and state employee benefits and safety nets become liquidated. The only reason we get away with masking unemployment numbers while declaring America the land of milk and honey is because of these unfunded liabilities keeping the unproductive appeased. Remove that for one day, and watch this roman empire collapse overnight. The problem is not the liabilities, it is the continuing erosion of a tax base to suck this blood from. With the dramatic demographic shift due in two decades, these accounting shenanigans will come to the foreground, and then watch out. I'm telling you right now, if present day Brazil is not a good enough outcome for your 30 years of american toil and sweat, jump ship to Brazil today and spare yourself the surplus productivity and low QOL, because you ain't gonna like it here in 30 years.

[dazzleman]

Originally Posted by hindsight2020

Unfunded liabilities, citizens living to older age, boomers, gen y/z+ opting out of having as many children leaving immigrants to the child birthing for them, the fact SS is actually a book of IOUs and not real money set aside. Yes SS will be as upside down as our country will be in 30 years.

I'm 28. If you're my age and you expect to see a dime of SS in your elder years you're watching a Disney movie. At best, you'll see a remarkably reduced benefit and a longer time period age wise to be able to collect. That's the reality of SS in 30 years. Broke or not that's where we're headed, and the boomers could care less, they'll be happily dead by then.

The boomers will go down in history as the generation that destroyed this country.

[Grandpa Pipes]

Originally Posted by Artisan10

I hear it often said that Social Security is going broke but this article says otherwise.

Is Social Security really 'going broke'? - Answer Desk- msnbc.com

What’s really going on?

I also often hear that Medicare is going broke. Is that so?

You must be listening to Republicans if this is your worry. Republicans want to outsource everything they can as long as they get paid to do it.

This paragraph really nails the whole issue of SS & medicare down flat.........
"What today’s Social Security “reformers” really want is to get Uncle Sam out of the business of taxing workers and employers to pay for retirement — and further cut taxes. But since the Bush administration’s trillion-dollar, first-term tax cut left the federal budget deep in the red, it’s going to be pretty hard to find ways to keep cutting taxes without going after Social Security.

[dazzleman]

People always confuse social security with the general fund, and the politicians have encouraged this.

Social security is supposed to be funded separately, and nothing done with the general fund should have nothing to do with it. However, this is not the case, since congress in 1983 raised social security taxes to create a surplus in social security that was to be 'saved' to be used when the boomers started to retire.

The problem is, the social security surplus was simply used to mask the size of the general fund deficit. The social security 'trust fund' simply holds government bonds, as part of our $12 trillion debt, or whatever the latest number is. Even during the 'balanced budget' years of the 1990s, the social security surplus was relied up to balance the shortfall in the general fund.

Within the next few years, the social security surplus will turn to deficit, and it will have to start redeeming the government bonds it holds. That means the general fund will have to start paying back that money that it has borrowed since 1983. Since it's already amassing $1 trillion + of new debt every year, it's hard to see where that is going to come from. Contrary to what some people think, there's a limit to how much more debt we can issue.

[checking out]

Social Security reports of performance and finances per government are found at: SSA's Performance and Accountability Report for Fiscal Year (FY) 2007

Medicare and Medicaid reports of performance and finances per government are found at: Search Results: 2009 financial statement (see tab for 2009 report).

More can be found at the HHS.gov site.

[checking out]

Originally Posted by Tightwad

You must be listening to Republicans if this is your worry. Republicans want to outsource everything they can as long as they get paid to do it.

This paragraph really nails the whole issue of SS & medicare down flat.........
"What today’s Social Security “reformers” really want is to get Uncle Sam out of the business of taxing workers and employers to pay for retirement — and further cut taxes. But since the Bush administration’s trillion-dollar, first-term tax cut left the federal budget deep in the red, it’s going to be pretty hard to find ways to keep cutting taxes without going after Social Security.

You just keep believing that non-sense...why don't ya.

Instead of looking at the partisan aspects, ADDRESS THE OP's INQUIRY.

Non-sense I tell ya...most want nothing more than complete non-sense as a mainstay of their daily diet....

[checking out]

Originally Posted by cdelena

A huge and increasing amount of dollars are required to fund SS and medicare... there is no actual 'fund' put aside. As the governent finds more things to spend money on and fewer people they can take money from it is clear it gets more difficult to fund these big programs every year. Something will have to change... your guess on what it will be.

There are trust funds... read the financial statements referenced in my prior post and kindly revise you position.

I more proper position focuses on the management of these trust funds rather than silly uneducated non-sense saying such a trust funds do not exist.