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| Economy |
| Social Security and Fiscal Doomsday |
| 2018-08-16 |
| [American Thinker] 2035. That’s the optimistic date for Social Security’s impending doom, after which Social Security is expected to provide only 75-80% of expected benefits to retirees. For the record, I turn 67 (full retirement age, for me) in 2047, so I, like many Americans, have been skeptical about the program for some time. But perhaps it’s pertinent to note that when I began following this looming doomsday in earnest, it was projected at 2038. It’s been creeping forward, with some estimates placing it as early as 2034. But there’s an interesting thing that happens when people think about Social Security, just as that same interesting thing happens when people imagine the impending doom of municipal and state pension liabilities that are now crippling governments across the country with a roughly $5 trillion hole nationally. Somehow, Americans think, the money is there if governments are capable of properly managing the inflows from workers, capitalizing upon the underlying investments, and just delivering the outflows to beneficiaries. Each and every of those assumptions are wrong. Let’s begin with municipal pensions. |
| Posted by:Besoeker |
| #4 Eliminate the cap on incomes susceptible to FICA withholding, and Social Security becomes a great deal more secure. The Pig Men will really squeal when their bonuses are tapped at the same percentage as a minimum wage worker, you can count on that. Government provided pensions (which SS is NOT) are an entirely different matter. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2018-08-16 12:53 |
| #3 Ed in T, that brought back memories!! There was a rich girl in college and late at night a whole group decided to go out to eat as students do. I begged of saying I was broke at the moment. Rich girl looks at me and says "Don't you have a check book?" She honestly had no understanding of the connection between deposits and withdrawal. Her father deposited $500 a month in her account (this was 50 years ago). That's the mindset of today's weenies. |
| Posted by: AlanC 2018-08-16 09:27 |
| #2 They can't have run out of entitlement money. They still have checks. |
| Posted by: ed in texas 2018-08-16 08:53 |
| #1 Have they run out of 'entitlement' money yet? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2018-08-16 06:16 |