Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Pay All Our Lives - For NOTHING

(Copied in full from NRO The Corner)

Social Security is a bad deal. If you're under 40, it's a really bad deal. [David Freddoso]

This afternoon's big news on Capitol Hill is the release of the annual report of the trustees of Social Security. The news is as grim as one might suspect:

The projected point at which tax revenues will fall below program costs comes in 2016 — one year sooner than the estimate in last year’s report.

The projected point at which the Trust Funds will be exhausted comes in 2037 — four years sooner than the estimate in last year’s report...

Over the 75-year period, the Trust Funds would require additional revenue equivalent to $5.3 trillion in today’s dollars to pay all scheduled benefits.
I notice that the trust fund is exhausted in 2037 — just in time for me to retire. But that makes little difference, because there's no money in the trust fund anyway. Every dime has been spent once. The pain begins in 2016, when the revenues are exceeded by the payouts.

A few lawmakers' statements roll in, among them that of Rep. Mike Pence (R, Ind.):
Our nation’s entitlement programs are quickly going bankrupt and yet President Obama has not offered a plan to preserve Medicare and Social Security for our children and grandchildren. Instead the Administration and Democrats in Congress would rather pass a government-controlled health care plan that will deprive roughly 120 million Americans of their current health care coverage and lead to federal bureaucrats denying critical care for patients.
So assuming that the retirement age is pushed back say five to 10 years, right about when we can retire, Social Security will completely collapse. Thanks a freakin' lot you hippie-scumbag-baby-boomers and FDR. Nice ponzi scam you set up for us.

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