Social Security etc. will remain solvent through 2040... or will it?

Little-Acorn

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When Social Security was first implemented in the 1930s, the government assigned the "retirement age" to be 65. After that, you could start drawing benefits.

By some strange coincidence, the average age of death in the 1930s was..... 65.

Meaning, half the people who would pay in all their lives, would never draw out a dime, except for death benefits.

And the rest wouldn't draw out very much before they, too, kicked off.

Social Security was designed to be "self-supporting"... for that time. With no thought of what might change in the future... like medical science advancing enough to enable people to live a LOT longer.

BTW, all the money you've paid in, has already been spent. In the SS Trust Fund is nothing but IOUs from the government. Remember Obama's statements a year or so ago, that if the Debt Ceiling wasn't raised, Social Security checks couldn't be written to its benefits recipients?

The money has been "borrowed" by other government agencies, and spent. All the money being paid in benefits to retirees, is coming from the money you and I are paying in now. None of it is being saved for us. This is the defining characteristic of a Ponzi scheme.

Which brings us to the other issue.

Remember the other predictions various govt officials have made, saying that SS sill be "solvent" for the next 15 or 20 or 30 or 50 years (depending on which politician you listen to)? They mean that they will be able to pay retirees their scheduled benefits from that money supposedly in the Trust Fund, until then.

But all the Trust Fund money has been "borrowed", and is gone. This means that those agencies that "borrowed" it, have to pay back ALL the money by that deadline (15 or 20 or etc. years from now), so it can be paid out to retirees that need it. And of course, if they are going to be replenishing the Trust Funds this way, they can't borrow any more while they're paying it back.

So, how much money is owed to the SS Trust Fund and other such govt-held trust funds?

Answer: 30.1% of the entire National Debt is owed to these Trust Funds. That's $4.7 trillion. (See reference below.)

That's how much must be paid back into the SS Trust fund and other such funds, to keep them "solvent" for that long.

Has anyone heard of any plans to pay off 30% of the National Debt within the next 15 years? Or 20? Or.....?

Neither have I.

Next time someone tells you how solvent the Social Security Trust fund is, or any other government trust fund, show him the numbers and see what he says then.

Reference: See http://fms.treas.gov/dts/index.html . Pick a recent date, and and look under "Intergovernmental Holdings".
 
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Every ponzi scheme appears to work for awhile. Perhaps by solvent all they mean is that it will continue to appear to work. Every other ponzi scheme just implodes at the end. Nothing graceful there.
 
to be fair, agencies did not spend the surplus all these years, it went to th General fund and any repayment will come from there. its already insolvent as those 23 million un or under employed have not been covering the day to day for years now.
 
to be fair, agencies did not spend the surplus all these years, it went to th General fund and any repayment will come from there.
And every year, the General Fund has been TOTALLY depleted, plus more - we have had to borrow more money, every year since the 1950s, to make ends meet.

In other words, we DID spend the SS surplus, every year, without exception, since before most of us were born.

Now the money is gone. Nothing in the SS Trust Fund and other such government trust funds, but IOUs. And those IOUs amount to 30% of the entire National Debt.

If Social Security is to keep paying out as scheduled, for as long as the politicians say it will, ALL that money must be paid back into the trust funds, by the deadline the politicians gave that the funds will be "solvent".

Has anyone heard of any plans, to pay off 30% of the National Debt, in the next 20 or 30 or whatever years?

Programs like SS aren't going to last anywhere near as long as the politicians say they will. They are in major trouble, NOW.
 
And every year, the General Fund has been TOTALLY depleted, plus more - we have had to borrow more money, every year since the 1950s, to make ends meet.

In other words, we DID spend the SS surplus, every year, without exception, since before most of us were born.

Now the money is gone. Nothing in the SS Trust Fund and other such government trust funds, but IOUs. And those IOUs amount to 30% of the entire National Debt.

If Social Security is to keep paying out as scheduled, for as long as the politicians say it will, ALL that money must be paid back into the trust funds, by the deadline the politicians gave that the funds will be "solvent".

Has anyone heard of any plans, to pay off 30% of the National Debt, in the next 20 or 30 or whatever years?

Programs like SS aren't going to last anywhere near as long as the politicians say they will. They are in major trouble, NOW.


Yes the so-called trust funds are nothing but debt and the government now borrows money via standard t-bills to pay off these special t-bills (and mainly from the Fed it seems) which sounds like a lot of bother and overhead in addition to the height of fiscal irresponsibility.

We're now Zimbabwe. Just a matter of time before the hyper inflation hits. Maybe the OCCs will get their wish when the whole world economy implodes in a black hole of debt. We had best make sure we have the best military when that happens or learn a new language or two. Better stock up on ammo for yourself as well.
 
How many baby boomers are in the work force now that will be retiring soon?
 
How many baby boomers are in the work force now that will be retiring soon?

gets better and better huh ?

and because the younger people are undereducated they won't be generating the revenues at anything like the level of the boomers.

scared enough yet ?
 
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To be fair -- Obama's comment on Social Security payments not being made was not in reference to the debt ceiling, it was in reference to a government shut down -- ie the idea if the government "shut down" then the checks would not get mailed...that is (by law) a blatent lie -- but that was his claim.
 
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