So Obama wants to "fix" Social Security and Medicare
Well if by fixing he means to gut the benefits or privatize them
FORGET IT. Yes I know he has not said anything specific...yet.
But as is pointed out here , SS does not need fixing.
it on purpose.
investment is worse than ludicrous.
With Medicare, the only problem there is the outrageous
prices being charged by the for profit medical community.
Using someone else's life and health to get rich is just
plane sick.
C
FORGET IT. Yes I know he has not said anything specific...yet.
But as is pointed out here , SS does not need fixing.
Unlike Robert Rubin's Citigroup,Unless the Government or some investors breaks
Social Security is solidly funded
long into the future. According
to the latest report from the
Congressional Budget Office
(pdf), it can pay all promised
benefits through the year 2049,
with no changes whatsoever. Even
after that date it will always be
able to pay benefits that are far
higher than what current retirees
receive.
So, the claim that Social
Security is going broke is
inaccurate, or in less polite
circles, a lie. Workers in their
40s 50s, and 60s have already
paid for their Social Security
benefits.
it on purpose.
Many people, most notably investmentAnd the idea of putting any of the SS funds into private
banker and Concord Coalition founder
Peter Peterson, have questioned the
solvency of Social Security based on
the fact that its trust fund is held
in US government bonds. Peterson and
others derisively refer to these bonds
as "IOUs".
Of course all bonds can be called
IOUs, but US government bonds are
considered the safest asset in the
world. Peterson and his followers
apparently want the government to
default on the bonds held by the
Social Security trust fund.
There is no reason that these bonds
cannot be paid back, but if there is a
serious push to default on the bonds
held by the trust fund, then we should
insist that Peterson and other wealthy
people who hold government bonds also
share in the pain from default.
Instead of having a full default on
the trust fund bonds and full payment
on the bonds held by Peterson, maybe
we should make everyone take a 15%
haircut, getting back 85% of the value
of their bonds.
investment is worse than ludicrous.
With Medicare, the only problem there is the outrageous
prices being charged by the for profit medical community.
Using someone else's life and health to get rich is just
plane sick.
Every other wealthy country in theYep..some real sweat hearts to be taking advise from.
world has managed to contain its
healthcare costs and provide care to
its population that is as good or
better than what people in the US
receive. If it were not for the
political power of the pharmaceutical,
insurance and doctors' lobbies, we
would have fixed healthcare long ago.
If Congress cannot stand up to these
special interest groups, then why not
just let retirees take advantage of
the healthcare systems in countries
with less corrupt political systems.
The latest round of attacks on Social
Security and Medicare are especially
pernicious because they come at a time
when the baby boom cohorts have just
seen much of their wealth disappear
due to the collapse of the housing
bubble and the stock market plunge.
Tens of millions of baby boomers who
thought they were well-prepared for
retirement two years ago, now find
themselves with little or no home
equity and very little left in their
retirement funds. As a result, they
will be almost totally dependent on
Social Security and Medicare.
The attacks are made even worse by the
fact that the attackers, people like
Robert Rubin and Peter Peterson,
promoted policies that led to this
collapse and personally profited to
the tune of tens or even hundreds of
millions of dollars. In other words,
after pushing the economy into a
severe recession and destroying the
life's savings of tens of millions of
working families, the Wall Street crew
now wants to take away their Social
Security and Medicare. This can almost
make killing your parents look like a
petty offence.
C
Advertisement
You got my vote on this. I agree.
Fix health care, with one pay, and medicare is just fine.
January 16, 2009 9:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
I'm all for free health care, with one pay. Let's just make everything free, with one pay,and everything will be fixed.
January 16, 2009 11:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spric! You've come to your senses at last! I never doubted you for a minute. Sign me up. being 30th in the world for healthcare is disgraceful.
January 17, 2009 3:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
Many people, most notably investment
banker and Concord Coalition founder
Peter Peterson, have questioned the
solvency of Social Security based on
the fact that its trust fund is held
in US government bonds. Peterson and
others derisively refer to these bonds
as "IOUs".
Of course all bonds can be called
IOUs, but US government bonds are
considered the safest asset in the
world.
You're missing the point. The point is that the"Trust Fund" does not represent any actual assets because for every penny of "savings" the government has in the "Trust Fund" it also has a penny of debt that the general fund owes it.
The term "Trust Fund" was designed to make people think that there was some independent pile of money somewhere or some assets somewhere that the government could use to pay off Social Security obligations when SS payouts began to exceed SS revenues.
The fact of the matter is, when this happens the government will, in essence, simply begin paying the net Social Security deficit (i.e. whatever SS benefits are not covered by current SS taxes) out of the general fund.
The solvency of Social Security is dependent entirely on the government being able to take enough money out of the general fund to pay for whatever benefits cannot be funded through SS taxes. This is true whether we having an accounting gimmick "Trust Fund" or whether it is just decreed that Social Security deficits will be financed by taking money from the general fund.
So all these claims of SS solvency through 2049 or whatever are rather moot, because they ignore the real issue - how is the general fund going to get the money to pay off the SS obligations that it will have to pay off when SS starts running a deficit?
January 17, 2009 3:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with your thinking. Trying to avoid using technical terms I describe the Trust Fund this way.
Imagine that
A. the Secretary of Treasury writes down on a piece of paper the amount of money he's received from workers and companies as "social security withholdings". (That actual cash is immediately spent to pay the Government's bills.)
Then he
B. writes down on a separate piece of paper the amount the government paid to social security beneficiaries. And
C. Subtracts the total on (B) from the total on (A). The result is- almost-the "Trust Fund".
After he does one more thing.
D. He calculates the amount the government owes as "interest" on that net amount in (C).Adds that "interest" to (C) to arrive at a final number which is called the Trust Fund.
That's all the Trust Fund consists of . A number written on a piece of paper.
To put Glavester's conclusion slightly differently the real issue is how the Government will get the money to fund the social security checks in any year when the payouts are more than the amounts being recieved.
But that applies equally to any government expenditures: NASA, the DOD, the President's salary,you name it.
OBTW This explanation does not mean that the Trust Fund is
as Peterson-who of course knows better-puts it his cynical attempt to save himself -and his rich buddies- from having to give up some of his billions so that the aged can retire in dignity.That "IOU" is exactly the same as any Government Debt. If the Treasury refused to make SS payments while the Trust Fund was"solvent" it would be almost the same as if it failed to mail out the checks when a T Bill comes due. ("almost" because maybe the Treasury could convince the buyers of its debt that somehow they don't have to worry about the precedent it set by having failed to honor its "IOU" to the Social Security Trust Fund. Good luck!)
January 17, 2009 7:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
I guess I am confused. You say the question of the money owed by the federal government to the Social Security Trust Fund is a moot question. My understanding is that it is moot in exactly the same way that the question of payment on all US obligations (US Treasuries, Notes, Bonds...) is moot. The question you seem to be raising I think is what happens when enough of these obligations come due and there are insufficient funds to pay them off. I would guess raising taxes to cover costs would be a natural solution. Please let me know if I have misunderstood the situation as I am approaching social security age (probably will not make it to 2049), but I am always curious why questions of default only seem to arise with social security. My suspicion has always been it is because the holders of the obligation in this case (social security) are the small fry, not some important institution like a bank or the wealthy class.
January 17, 2009 8:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
The federal government had no problem finding $700 billion to give to the banks so their executives could retire in style, and their stockholders would get their dividends, so I have no doubt at all the that same government would be able to find all of the money to pay for social security benefits for the next 50 years.
Incidentally, the trust fund is identical to your bank account. Neither you nor the Social Security system has any actual money stacked up anywhere. You both have a piece of paper with a dollar figure printed on it.
January 17, 2009 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hoppy - your analogy is not correct. Today I can go to the ATM and take money out of my bank account and then go to the supermarket and buy food. I have no idea if there will be any money for me to "take out" of social security when I retire in 25 years.
January 17, 2009 10:47 PM | Reply | Permalink
What is incorrect? Today the SS system can draw funds from their trust fund too. In both cases the funds come from the pool of assets the "bank" has in its possession, not from a stack of money set aside for their or your specific use.
January 18, 2009 11:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
The government can decide to cut benefits or delay the retirement age. It's more variable/uncertain source of funds versus the money in my savings account
January 18, 2009 12:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
What the government can do is limited by what we are willing to let them do. Just because we were willing to let them invade a country that had not attacked us, torture POW's, wiretap all of our telephones without warrants, suspend habeaus corpus, politicize the Justice Department, etc. doesn't mean we have to be willing to let them eviscerate the Social Security system. Surely there is something we are willing to stand up for. Isn't there?
January 18, 2009 6:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Happy for you to try. Please don't bring Iraq into the Social Security discussion.
In theory the government is limited to what we allow them to do. But they do a lot of things (like give themselves raises) without checking with us first.
But if the government can't afford the current social security benefits (ie projected long run costs are not "sustainable", to use the government's own words), why don't you think they should somehow "fix" the system by raising taxes or changing the benefits package?
January 18, 2009 11:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
"If the government can't afford the current social security benefits" is a qualification that has yet to be demonstrated to be a valid qualification. One thing we do know is that there is enough in the SS trust fund, along with current FICA tax levels, that the government will be able to afford the current security benefits until the mid 2040"s. And, there are good reasons to believe that the government will be able to afford those benefits for much longer than that.
FICA rates were raised years ago just to solve this problem, which some people, mostly Republicans, seem determined to solve all over again. They wish to do this because once the SS system has to use the built up trust fund, income taxes will have to be increased to make up the resulting shortfall in general revenue caused by no longer being able to borrow that FICA excess for the general fund. And, income tax increases will be progressive increases, bringing the income tax rates for the high brackets back closer to where they were before Bush began reducing them.
All of this is moot when you realize that the economic crisis we are now in will result in budget deficits in the trillions of dollars - so high that any added deficit from SS payments will be invisible.
January 20, 2009 1:08 AM | Reply | Permalink
Why is it a qualification that has yet to be demonstrated to be valid?
Why do you disagree with the government's own assessment?
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
January 20, 2009 5:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
Perfect you got to the REAL problem and that is the 'General Fund'.
The General Fund must Tow the Line for the SSI's.
Who are the SSI's?
The SSI's are all those people you see on the 1st of the month with handicapped placards handing on their rear view mirror or on their license plates.
They flood into the stores, restaurants, fast food, dollar/99 cent stores, they are in line at the gas station, usually with several Gas Cans in the back of a pick-up truck.
These are the SSI's.
They DO NOT WORK. They DON'T HAVE TO HAVE EVER WORKED A SINGLE DAY IN THEIR LIFE.
They MAY own a home of any size or any value whatsoever.
SSI is NOT SOCIAL SECURITY.
The reason many people don't know the difference between SSI and SSDI-Social Security Disibility Insurance/Income or SS-Social Security is because they THINK SSI equals Social Security Disability and NOTHING COULD BE FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
SSI stands for Supplemental Security Income.
It drains the life out of the 'General Fund' every single month.
In several states, particularly California, there is yet ANOTHER one called, SSP-Supplemental Security Payment.
So, you have the Federal Government issuing the SSI-Supplemental Security Income from the Fed-General Fund, and you have the SSP-Supplemental Security Payments draining the STATE's 'General Fund'.
Here in lies the biggest and fastest most bloated Social Program in history.
This SSI & SSP is growing so rapidly it is catching up to Medicare & Social Security.
Yet, notice how Obama has ONLY pointed out, Social Security during a recent speech? That's because an enormous percentage of Senior Citizens DID NOT Vote for him!
Google or Ask.com this-> Obama scares Gresham, Oregon Senior Citizens in Assisted Living.
You will read where Obama during the Campaign, went into that Assisted Living place and frightened those Seniors to try and get them scared enough to vote for him.
I remember him scaring Seniors against McCain, saying that McCain would CUT Social Security, do you remember that?
Now, Obama knowing that these Senior's DID NOT Vote for him is out to Get Em'.
He is REWARDING the people/entities that DID vote for him!
There is no deduction on my payroll stub that goes to a 'General Fund'. Only for Social Security & Medicare, and the STATE, along with the other withdrawls they take from me.
The problem is this: SSI can be drawn at ANY AGE.
Persons age 65 come into the US and get straight onto SSI & in California and say, Pennsylvania, SSP too.
In California, right now, a Chinese couple or Mexican couple age 65 can get a check on the 1st of the month for $1,569 TAX FREE. That is around the same amount for a RETIRED WORKER that paid into Social Security for 40 years!
AND, that SSI & SSP is completely TAX FREE, SSI & SSP PAYS ZERO TAXES.
This is not all the SSI/SSP's get either.
An Individual in California get's $907 Tax Free bucks on the 1st.
When you have 'Head of Household' collecting, SSI/SSP, the ENTIRE family living in THAT household get's a check too.
That is alot of checks. Ask your Mailcarrier sometime if they ever deliver SUPER THICK stacks of Checks on the 1st of the month to houses that have people living there that appear to be perfectly Able Bodied...Just ask them.
What you will find out is what I found out. That some homes get a super think 1 inch stack or larger per household.
You see, say the Dad collects SSI/SSP, the Mother gets an SSI/SSP & IHSS check for HIS care. I.E., for cooking for him. Around $300 is average a Mother would get for cooking for the Father on SSI. She will also get her SSI & SSP for the care of her children under age 16. The children will ALL get SSI/SSP until age 18, and many, many of them learn the In's and Out's of SSI/SSP during those years to claim, 'Depression and/or Anxiety' to continue to collect for the rest of their lives.
If the Parents of the Dad live when him, they will collect too.
A Brother (Uncle) or Sister (Aunt) of the Dad will also get a check, as well as cousins.
NONE OF THIS MONEY IS TAXED.
My neighbor's house is worth $450,000 on over 25 acres and he inherited it so it's free & clear.
It does not matter, he still get's his SSI/SSP every month, his wife get's SSI/SSP & IHSS, his daughter just got her last SSI/SSP check as she just turned 18, however, Pell & CalGRANT sent her enoumous funds after the local college took their cut and sent her the proceeds, she will be living VERY comfortably on those proceeds as it's ALOT of money.
NONE of the people in the 'Household' need to be Disabled, Just the 'Head of Household' for ALL of them to collect SSI/SSP.
Now, the Disability part. Most of the people in this tiny town are ALL on SSI/SSP because of the Largest part of SSI/SSP and that's 'MENTAL-OTHER'.
They can just say to a Social Security screening physician/psychiatrist they are Prone to Violent Outbursts. They can get real Agressive acting while/during their screening interview with that SSA physician and they will QUALIFY.
There's also, Depression or Anxiety from being a Meth/CRANK Addict, Depression or Anxiety from being an Alcoholic.
All these people get, MediCAL, MediCARE and/or MediCARE. Free. No Premiums, no deductables, no co-pays, Free Medicines/pills, free EMS, free Hospital.
Sometimes, but NOT most of the time, unless there's alot of children in the 'household' SSI/SSP gets NO Food Stamps.
However, they recieve Farmers Market Free Food Vouchers, Free Commodities each month, Unlimited Food Bank assistance, Emergency Food, Gleaners food assistance.
The children all get free school breakfast, lunch and now after-school meals.
The children all get free new clothing vouchers at the beginning of each school year for $250 each from Mervyns, Macy's and I don't know what other stores but these 2 do it every year.
Every Person in the 'household' will go to college FREE.
Every person in the 'household' will get Free Dental including Veneer Caps, partials, false teeth, all dental needs are completely free.
Vision is completely free as are their glasses and contacts and/or any vision surgery.
It's ALL free for SSI/SSP's.
They get free Medi-Trans, Senior Transport, bus passes.
They recieve Discounted Auto Repair and Smog work.
A Free 'TV-Converter Box Voucher'. That's currently in the Stimulus Bill for Tax Payers to pay for thise TV converter box vouchers.
MediCAID & MediCAL are in the Stimulus.
An Increase to Food Stamps when currently the recipients of Food Stamps have been found this year to be the most Obese people in America. Yet, Obama has decided they don't get enough to eat and wants my taxes to pay for increased amounts on their Food Stamp EBT-Divnity Debit Cards that spits out cash from an ATM machine and gives the recipient back CASH at the cash register.
If you read the Stimulus you will see MORE massive amounts for HUD-Section 8 Housing Choice & Mobility Vouchers and Funding for Very Low Incomes to get either a HUD Section 8 Loan to buy a house or a USDA Rural Direct or USDA Rural Guarantee Mortgage Loan.
The USDA Rural Direct one was the most used by the ITIN Illegals to buy up ton's of homes just outside Los Angeles County in smaller towns and they receive another Subsidized amount if they cannot pay the 1% mortgage payment that required No Down Payment or Closing Costs.
These are alot the the Foreclosed homes and when they Modified these loans to help these ITIN's stay in their homes, they RE-DEFAULTED again.
I know this because I worked for a Board of Realtors in Los Angeles before moving north and my family still lives and works in LA.
The Entire reason that there are so many foreclosures in LA is because the Women and Children live on Welfare-CalWORKS-TANF and the Father/Dad's that are not really supposed to be there, but Welfare does not really care, worked Construction. Most all of them worked Construction. The one's that bought up ton's of homes on No Down Payment, bought thru Sub-Prime, did so and DID pay their Mortgages to the Sub-Prime's for awhile while there was still a Construction Boom going on, when that Construction Boom stopped, so did the mortgage payments.
Now, these ITIN Illegal's know about SSI & SSP in California.
They are waiting for Amnesty to go to Social Security and get what they consider a Guarenteed Check every Month from SSI & SSP for the rest of their lives.
Remember, any age, NO WORK HISTORY REQUIRED. ZIP.
There is barely any kind of follow up on SSI's at all. Once the 1st check comes along with their 'Windfall Lump Sum Check' comes, they have nothing to worry about for the rest of their lives, because the checks always come.
The Stimulus is power packed with an Extra SSI check for each SSI in the Nation for a 1-Time Extra check costing $7.5 Million. And that does not include the SSP check.
So, you see where the 'Draining' is coming from?
It's coming from Vulture's that take and give NOTHING in return.
It is a complete World within the US these people that live on SSI & SSP.
It is growing very, very large.
Many, many Mother's that don't want to ever work just Transfer from CalWORKS when they are required to seek work after the 5 year Lifetime Limit comes up and to 'then' go onto TANF.
The Welfare is very generous. It will pay a Mother that get's a tiny 100 per month minimum work hours per month a check that's almost as large as the CalWORKS check, a TANF check until the very last child is 18 years old.
These children will also go to college free.
And instead of working, the Mother can go to college instead of the 100 hours minimus work required per month.
Yet, many of these Mother's decide they don't want to get up and go to college or go to work 100 hours a month and proceed to SSI/SSP.
Why? Because they can eat themselves into qualifying Morbid Obesity, Diabetes or Meth out until their teeth show 'Meth Mouth' and drink
That's because the SSI/SSP 'Entitlement' Program makes people lack incentive, drive, motivation to do anything but either get high, or sit and watch TV and eat or hand out in dive bars all day and drink.
It strips them of their incentive to do something with their lives.
It's infections in that their children see how easy it is to say, Oh I've got ADD or ADHD because they don't want to do any homework.
Physicians are a big Part of this too.
MediCAL Doctors are the WORST! They know that they can keep their Doctors offices crammed to bulging with MediCAL and MediCAID recipients when they simply sign paperwork Validating that the Applicant for SSI/SSP is sick and Cannot Every work for a Year or Ever Again.
I know a guy that pleaded with a Doctor to cut his back open to make it look like he had a bad back and the Doctor took a Bribe to do it.
There was not really any surgary other than an incision and stiches to make it look like a surgary and someone elses X-Rays were used.
And, it worked. He owns a Cadallic Escalade now with the $907 a month because he also inherited a paid for home and land.
It's NOT Social Security or MediCARE unless you look at Physicians charges being over bloated to collect more.
But persons like my Parents have been working and paying into the system a very long time and definately deserve the day when they need to retire with a check coming to them each month and Medical services.
They don't own a paid for home either, they have been paying for years.
An SSI gets 95% of their Property Taxes back in October too.
Everywhere you look, the SSI gets a break on everything.
If you live in Oregon or Washington State, and there's no Sales tax, you hardly pay any kind of TAX at all to live.
SSI's are growing and it will Break the Entire Social Program system when Obama Legalizes the Illegals and they go line up at Social Security Offices all across the Nation for their Tax Free Money for themselves and their ENTIRE families.
Social Security only does the paperwork, interviews and decision making and pays out the money to SSI's.
But, the Money for SSI, comes from the General Fund!
Completely different from Social Security.
It does not suprise me at all Obama wants to give SSI's a Free check in the Stimulus bill.
NONE of the other Entitlements are getting a free check in the Stimulus but SSI.
Social Security Obama says is an 'Entitlement' that needs to be looked into.
But, Social Security is the only one that NOT an Entitlement.
All the 'other' Entitlements are Entitlements, but NOT Social Security.
Because people pay for Social Security, EXCEPT for SSI's.
Upon the SSI's 65th Birthday they CONVERT to Social Security and usually get even MORE money each month. When the SSI converts to Social Security, I do believe they begin for the 1st time in their lives most of them, to pay a small tax on their income.
SSI is the Entitlement of choice for many Minorities.
I see why it's got it's Special Place in the Stimulus Bill.
While a Prisoner cannot collect SSI while in Prison, they CAN and DO collect the day they walk out of Prison.
There are Social Workers that go into Prison's and Pre-Qualify them to get straight onto checks.
Also, Sex Offenders get checks too. They have all kinds of reasons they can use under the ever growing 'Mental-Other' catagory to qualify for checks.
The WORST one though is, Fathers.
Fathers that do NOT live with their children can ESCAPE Child Support just by being on SSI/SSP.
And don't ever bother to sue an SSI for anything!
You won't collect a penny.
They can drive drunk, without a license, without insurance, slamming into you and crippling you and your child and they will pay ZERO if they are on SSI and you can put an Abstract of Judgment Lein on their Real Property, but you will never find a Judge to do an 'Writ of Execution of Judgment' Sale Order, because the POOR SSI will just have his PRO-BONO, Legal Aid Attorney claim 'Hardship' and you will never collect on it if they never Probate the property and put their heirs on the DEED while they are still alive or they never sell the property or Re-finance it.
There's ALOT of these type of SSI's. This is how I learned about all this, by talking and listening and learning what the do and what they know.
SSI is the problem Entitlement, Obama will just keep making everyong pay for it, raising their benefits and cutting Seniors off their Social Security and Medicare because they did not vote for him, yet the SSI's DID.
And these SSI's sent Obama some of their check money to his Campaign.
January 31, 2009 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's all the Trust Fund consists of. A number written on a piece of paper.
No there are actual government bonds stored in a file cabinet in WV. Bush went to visit them in 2005 so he could call them worthless IOUs. He better hope they're not because I understand he has most of his fortune in US government bonds too.
The SSA does an annual analysis of the Trust Fund's solvency and predicts when it'll go broke. They do best, middle and worst case scenarios. While making economic projections a year ahead is iffy at best and 30 years out is just a guessing game the best case scenario has been the most accurate over the last 30 years. The last time I checked the worst case scenario said the SSTF would be drained by 2041, the middle case 2071 and the best never, as in it would remain solvent indefinitely. Regardless even if we did nothing and the worst case scenario came to pass in 2041 then current tax receipts would still pay out about 73% of benefits. The Trust Fund has always been intended as a set aside and to pay the baby boomer bulge without bankrupting the following smaller generations.
This is all predicated on those bonds in that file cabinet in WV being cashed in as they come due starting in about 2018. How do we do that? Either congress has to reverse course and start carving money out of general revenues (and stop borrowing from the SSTF) or they'll have to sell new bonds to replace the old.
For those who complain about the government spending the SS surplus each year and giving us "worthless IOUs" for the TF in return I ask what do you want congress to do with the money instead? Stuff it in a mattress? Invest it in Wall St. banks? We want that money working for us earning interest and there's no safer investment than US bonds backed by the full faith and credit of the US government. It does double duty by keeping the government from having to borrow about $200 billion a year at higher rates to paper over part of the deficits. By lending back to itself this way it keeps the budget deficits from being even bigger than they are. With interest on the debt the second largest budget expenditure every year (after Defense) it's important to minimize it where we can.
January 17, 2009 11:22 AM | Reply | Permalink
I'm not making this up. Quoting the 2008 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees. Please read this and tell me why social security is "ok" and doesn't need to be fixed.
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html
The financial condition of the Social Security and Medicare programs remains problematic. Projected long run program costs are not sustainable under current financing arrangements. Social Security's current annual surpluses of tax income over expenditures will begin to decline in 2011 and then turn into rapidly growing deficits as the baby boom generation retires. Medicare's financial status is even worse. This year Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund is expected to pay out more in hospital benefits and other expenditures than it receives in taxes and other dedicated revenues. The difference will be made up from general revenues which pay for interest credits to the Trust Fund. Growing annual deficits are projected to exhaust HI reserves in 2019 and Social Security reserves in 2041. In addition, the Medicare Supplementary Medical Insurance (SMI) Trust Fund that pays for physician services and the prescription drug benefit will continue to require general revenue financing and charges on beneficiaries that grow substantially faster than the economy and beneficiary incomes over time.
January 17, 2009 3:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
And your point is????
I have no problem with ss payments coming from general funds. In fact, given a choice I would rather pay SS benefits than pay for more wars. bigger and better bombs, or bank bailouts, etc.
January 17, 2009 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Well, since the "General Fund" can take from Social Security, why shouldn't SS come from the GF? Why blame everything on Social Security when the Defense budget takes more from the General Fund than any of us can imagine. (Talk about zeros!)
After this bailout, it will all be numbers on paper anyway.
January 17, 2009 8:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a really dumb response. After the bailout it will all be numbers on paper anyway? Is that like saying "who cares, it's my grandkids problems and I'll be dead anyways".
If the current costs are not sustainable then the program needs fixing.
January 18, 2009 11:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have no problem with ss payments coming from general funds. In fact, given a choice I would rather pay SS benefits than pay for more wars. bigger and better bombs, or bank bailouts, etc.
You got that right. At least the money would be going to something useful.
C
January 17, 2009 8:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmm - my point is that Social Security DOES need to be fixed. If it was stable then the Board of Trustees wouldn't be warning us that it's in trouble
January 17, 2009 10:43 PM | Reply | Permalink