Harry Reid, (Embarrassment-Nevada) has constantly said that Social security is not in danger and there is no reason to fix it. Well, experts tend to differ.
From Yahoo News: Social Security will post nearly $600 billion in deficits over the next decade as the economy struggles to recover and millions of baby boomers stand at the brink of retirement, according to new congressional projections.
This year alone, Social Security is projected to collect $45 billion less in payroll taxes than it pays out in retirement, disability and survivor benefits, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday. That figure swells to $130 billion when a new one-year cut in payroll taxes is included, though Congress has promised to repay any lost revenue from the tax cut.
Last year, Social Security posted its first deficit since the program was last overhauled in the 1980s. The CBO said at the time that Social Security would post surpluses for a few more years before permanently slipping into deficits in 2016.
But the new projections show nothing but red ink until the Social Security trust funds are exhausted in 2037. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_social_security;_ylt=AsGh2XpOMuMsM4HuxNh6Xhms0NUE;_ylu=X3oDMTNpbzhuODYxBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwMTI3L3VzX3NvY2lhbF9zZWN1cml0eQRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzIEcG9zAzgEcHQDaG9tZV9jb2tlBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA3NvY2lhbHNlY3VyaQ
Only fools like Harry Reid and bloggers like the fool and idiot at Desert Bacon, err Beacon, believe nothing is wrong with the Social Security.
I don't know if there will be funds for me when I retire. I know my kids will not be getting Social Security when it comes time for them to retire in 50 years.
But if you listen to Harry Reid and the Desert Bacon, there is no problem with Social Security. I think Harry Reid and Bacon, err Beacon, is listening to this kind of music:
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In 1983, a federal commission raised the payroll tax and changed the benefits schedule a bit so that the Social Security Trust Fund would grow to a point that it could support withdrawals by Baby Boomers. We're now told that the Fund will run dry in about 2037. In that year, the youngest of the Boomers will be age 73; most will be dead. The commission did what it needed to do to make Social Security solvent. Can we move on to our real problem, which is the annual federal deficit of $1.5 trillion, which has nothing to do with Social Security?
ReplyDeleteWith about $2.5 trillion in the Social Security Trust Fund, the Fund is due about $200 billion in interest each year. That will be more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years. This more than offsets any shortfall in the payroll taxes to collect enough revenue to pay for SS benefits. Why is this information frequently overlooked? Let's get on to the really important discussion about how we raise about $1.5 trillion in federal revenues in 2011, so that we can end our annual deficit for that amount. We cannot afford to add $1.5 trillion to our federal debt each year. This is unsustainable.
ReplyDeleteAnd that $200 billion in interest is paid by whom? By the taxpayers, you and me, that's who. That's where they're going to get the $2.5 trillion to make good on the bonds in the Trust Fund as well. The assets in the Trust Fund can only be used to pay Social Security benefits by imposing additional burdens in the form of higher taxes, cuts in other programs or more federal debt. There is no other way.
ReplyDeleteThe increases in the Social Security payroll tax simply allowed Congress and Presidents more money to spend on current programs over the last 2+ decades while putting off spending restraint and paying for them until later. Well, later is just around the corner.
Every dollar in the Social Security Trust Fund, plus interest, represents another dollar of debt for the federal government that the taxpayers are going to have to pay back. Furthermore, since the government owes the money to itself, this debt is not included in most calculations.
Saying that there's nothing wrong with Social Security completely ignores the relationship between the Trust Fund and the federal government's general fund, which, according to George, is already short $1.5 trillion per year plus the additional $200 billion in interest to the SSTF.