Scary scary stuff. Social Security out > in...

[statman]

Wasn't supposed to happen for another 6 or 7 years at least. SS has tipped.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/bu...social.html?hp

And we just passed a huge new wave of entitlement spending? Who the hell do we think we are?

The answer will shortly be - Greece.

[Hallelujah]

Wasn't supposed to happen for another 6 or 7 years at least. SS has tipped.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/bu...social.html?hp

And we just passed a huge new wave of entitlement spending? Who the hell do we think we are?

The answer will shortly be - Greece.

Does anyone in government know where the trillions of dollars are going to come from? The rich?

[New Mexican Disaster]

Wasn't supposed to happen for another 6 or 7 years at least. SS has tipped.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/bu...social.html?hp

And we just passed a huge new wave of entitlement spending? Who the hell do we think we are?

The answer will shortly be - Greece.

This is a huge deal and it needs to be fixed. Terrifying. We have been Greece for about 5 years now. Most all of the developed world is in varying stages of Greece.

[statman]

This is a huge deal and it needs to be fixed. Terrifying. We have been Greece for about 5 years now. Most all of the developed world is in varying stages of Greece.

This line would be absolutely hilarious if it wasn't a) so misleading, and b) so tragic: "For accounting purposes, the system’s accumulated revenue is placed in Treasury securities."

What they mean to say is "none of the cash supposedly saved up in Social Security's 'accumulated revenue' is actually there. It's all already been spent by Congress. The payouts come from incoming SS taxes and the shortfall will now have to come from general tax revenue. SS will have a shortfall and will consistently become a larger part of our required annual budget from now on. But don't worry, Obamacare will make up the difference."

Now is usually the time when the criminals running the Ponzi scheme jump in the Lear and fly to Honduras. If only we were so lucky. The assholes still have the checkbook...

[old_gregg]

euthanization does not seem like an entirely bad option, am i right?

[Moliere]

Wasn't supposed to happen for another 6 or 7 years at least. SS has tipped.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/bu...social.html?hp

And we just passed a huge new wave of entitlement spending? Who the hell do we think we are?

The answer will shortly be - Greece.

And with the retired baby boomers soon to represent a large chunk of the voting population you can bet that any reform will be focused mostly on tax increases instead of benefit cuts. I can't wait to see which presidnt will pick up this problem. Maybe robin was right about the baby bommers afterall.

[Hallelujah]

And with the retired baby boomers soon to represent a large chunk of the voting population you can bet that any reform will be focused mostly on tax increases instead of benefit cuts. I can't wait to see which presidnt will pick up this problem. Maybe robin was right about the baby bommers afterall.

Which leads me to ask why the Universal Healthcare bill backers continue to cite Social Security and Medicare as successful programs that UHB is now a part of.

[Moliere]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...NewsCollection

Social Security, which pays retirement and disability benefits to 56 million Americans, will exhaust its reserves by 2033, three years sooner than previously estimated, a new government report said Monday.

On a happier note, there was no change in the timing of the exhaustion of Medicare reserves, which is still projected to be 2024

[Indy Coug]

I'm convinced that inaction is the only action the government is capable of on this issue. I'm sure the Buffet Rule can help stretch this out another week or two.

[Omaha 680]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...NewsCollection



On a happier note, there was no change in the timing of the exhaustion of Medicare reserves, which is still projected to be 2024

But those "reserves" are just treasury securities, right? So to even get to the point where these programs officially go broke, we will need either massive new borrowing (as in our current trillion dollar deficits will seem small) or massive cuts (on the order of 50% or more) to discretionary spending.

[Omaha 680]

I'm convinced that inaction is the only action the government is capable of on this issue. I'm sure the Buffet Rule can help stretch this out another week or two.

They get a little more honest each year. The truth is that SS and medicare will undergo massive changes. We can either choose how we restructure them while we still have time, or we can just await the tsunami like Greece and try to pick up the pieces after.

[Mormon Red Death]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...NewsCollection



On a happier note, there was no change in the timing of the exhaustion of Medicare reserves, which is still projected to be 2024

How much $ are we talking if they raised the cap from 110k to 220k? Anyone have an study on that?

[Indy Coug]

They get a little more honest each year. The truth is that SS and medicare will undergo massive changes. We can either choose how we restructure them while we still have time, or we can just await the tsunami like Greece and try to pick up the pieces after.

To be honest, we've already passed the time where we can constructively deal with this situation with relatively little shock to the system. The appropriate solutions will be painful. I just wish our national leadership was mature enough to do the right thing now.

[Moliere]

How much $ are we talking if they raised the cap from 110k to 220k? Anyone have an study on that?

The problem with raising the tax cap is that SS currently function somewhat like a pension plan, where benefits are tied to what you pay in (but it's obviously very progressive in that sense). So raising the cap to $220K would increase benefit payments as well. The law would need to be changed to say that any taxes collected in excess of $110K would not be included in the benefit calculation, which essentially is redistribution of wealth. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but in teh current political climate it might not happen....although I could see Obama pushing for this in his 2nd term.

But those "reserves" are just treasury securities, right? So to even get to the point where these programs officially go broke, we will need either massive new borrowing (as in our current trillion dollar deficits will seem small) or massive cuts (on the order of 50% or more) to discretionary spending.

They are reserves, so yes we'll just go into more debt to pay out the claims through 2033. There is no big pile of cash waiting to be paid out since it's already been spent on other government projects like wars, stimuli, and failed solar panel companies.

To be honest, we've already passed the time where we can constructively deal with this situation with relatively little shock to the system. The appropriate solutions will be painful. I just wish our national leadership was mature enough to do the right thing now.

I agree except that it's not entirely the national leadership's fault. They are all afraid of what the constiuents will do if they slash benefits. With teh boomers retiring, the retired people in this country make up a massive voting block. Any position against SS is political suicide, at least on a national scale. My guess is that nothing will happen to SS at least through 2020 adn only then will the discussion start to heat up. The result will be that the law will be changed that SS can overspend it's trust fund, meaning we'll just go further into debt (and past the trust fund) to keep paying out 100% of promised benefits.

[Mormon Red Death]

The problem with raising the tax cap is that SS currently function somewhat like a pension plan, where benefits are tied to what you pay in (but it's obviously very progressive in that sense). So raising the cap to $220K would increase benefit payments as well. The law would need to be changed to say that any taxes collected in excess of $110K would not be included in the benefit calculation, which essentially is redistribution of wealth. I'm not saying it's a bad idea, but in teh current political climate it might not happen....although I could see Obama pushing for this in his 2nd term.

So the more money you put in to SS the more you get in your Gov pension? IE byu71 who has been at the cap will get more money than the guy making half the cap? I always thought everybody got the same disbursement amounts.