Social Security and Medicare finances worsen

Social Security and Medicare finances worsen

www.msnbc.msn.com

The trustees for Social Security and Medicare are scheduled to provide their annual report on the finances of both programs on Tuesday. In advance of the release, many private analysts said they expected both programs could run out of cash sooner than last predicted.

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[edit on 5/12/2009 by semperfortis]

As have most Americans, I have been paying into Social Security all my working life. I always thought that there may be nothing for them to give back to me when I reach 65. It looks like they will not be able to pay benefits by 2041. Even bleaker is medicare, which is thought to be sustainable only to the year 2019.

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 5/12/2009 by semperfortis]

Yes, we are in a system run by old dragons for the old dragons. I am 22 years old and by the time I am 65 there is going to be nothing left for me. Take it as a warning to start saving when your young. Unless we find a total Utopia, we are going to starve.

Don't worry, I am sure the government will print more money it doesn't have to ensure these entitlements live on. Isn't this the same way they are currently paying the bills?

IMO, the government should be obligate to put the money collected for these entitlements into a trust fund and NOT BE allowed to touch a penny for any other purpose except for what it was intended for.

I completely agree with you. If they had not raided the SS funds we would not be in such a bad state. It is so sad that we cannot trust anything the government does or says at all anymore. This stuff scares the crap out of me as I am disabled and receive my only income from SS. I feel so bad for the young people that are having money taken from their paychecks and likely are not going to get much of a return.

I knew there were big problems when they announced there would for the first time EVER, be no cost of living increases in 2010 or 2011. That should be so much fun to survive on the current amount with prices of everything going sky high. I love this planet...not.

Thats funny, 2041. That is the year I turn 65.

Don't worry, there won't be a need for Social Security beyond 2012.

Originally posted by finemanm
Thats funny, 2041. That is the year I turn 65.

Don't worry, there won't be a need for Social Security beyond 2012.

That IS funny (in a macabre sort of way). I bet you'll pay it out of every paycheck until they lock the doors in 2041 though.

IMO, the government should be obligate to put the money collected for these entitlements into a trust fund and NOT BE allowed to touch a penny for any other purpose except for what it was intended for.

reply to post by jam321


I agree with your statement 100%. It actually makes too much sense for the governement to do, though. I don't know why we have to pay into the social security system. Anyone of us could mismanage our own money equally and maybe a fair majority of us would do better with our money.

Anyone who has been paying attention knows that we as a country cannot fund our financial obligations to social security and/or medicare.

This has always been a ticklish subject for the politicians. So they invented the term "Lock Box". Both democrats and republicans say that our ss and medicare is safe in the "Lock Box".

The reality is that the politicians have squandered the excess funds that we've been paying into both of those programs and the only thing in the "Lock Box" are IOUs from the general fund.

So, in 2017-2019 we will be paying out more than we collect from all our hard working non-retired people. The results will be to either increase taxes to make the payments or to decrease the benefits.

I'm 24. When I started working in this country I knew then that I would never see a dime of social security. It is a failed entitlement program that no amount of "reform" could ever fix. Same with Medicare/Medicaid. It is a pilot program for universal health care and it is already so far in debt that it would bankrupt the nation should the debt ever be called in at once, for the time being, it is a slow death. And now Obama want to play FDR while ignoring the debt problem in this nation.

We are so freakin' screwed.

Originally posted by tamusan


As have most Americans, I have been paying into Social Security all my working life. I always thought that there may be nothing for them to give back to me when I reach 65. It looks like they will not be able to pay benefits by 2041. Even bleaker is medicare, which is thought to be sustainable only to the year 2019.

www.msnbc.msn.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Ohhhh and I contributed to the system for 25 years as an illegal with no hope of getting any of it anyway!! and that still didn't help.

So I ask you WHO HAS BEEN STEALING IT ALL????? damn politicians that's WHO!!

Social Security was doomed the day that they started to raid it in order to finance other programs. We have missed the boat while countries such as Chile have privatized retirement accounts successfully. The accounts have become private property of the citizens.

Ninety-five percent of Chilean workers opted for a PRA system. Why wouldn’t they? According to summaries provided by Jose Pinera, the architect of PRAs, retirement, disability and survivors benefits (included) are already 50 percent to 100 percent higher than under the old system. Most current retirees didn’t own PRAs their entire career. Still, the average Chilean’s income from a PRA is 78 percent of his pre-retirement income, a level that is strictly fantasy material for most U.S. Social Security beneficiaries.

For Chileans, their PRA is private property and becomes part of their estate at death. Americans’ payroll taxes go to the Social Security Trust Fund, property of the government. Worse, all the money has been drained from the Trust Fund, leaving only promissory notes. It’s as if you planned for your child’s college education by putting an IOU in a cigar box every year. Your child’s ability to afford college would be as shaky as the Social Security benefits of today’s youth.

Chile’s PRA system has other advantages. It has reduced poverty by increasing the size and certainty of retirement, survivors and disability benefits. The availability of capital has substantially improved Chile’s economic productivity and employment. Retirement issues are no longer political.

But most importantly, Chileans have escaped the perverse pay-as-you-go system, in which current workers are required to pay the pensions for a mushrooming population of retirees. Chilean workers know that future financial crisis and intergenerational tensions won’t be necessary to sustain them in old age. They have real financial security.

Why should Americans settle for less?

www.goldwaterinstitute.org...

SS was a temporary insurance program. It was never meant to last a decade let alone all this time it has lasted.

Then we have all these people who dont use it as insurance and instead try to retire off of it. WTF is that about? It's been empty for a long time. Didnt Clinton borrow from it to pay the national debt or something like that? So it went bankrupt and then was borrowed from and left with an IOU? It's like triple empty now. Assuming SS has any value is like assuming our current debt could ever be repaid.

These are imaginary like the square root of a negative.

It's like some guido offering "protection" for a percent of your earnings. The only thing you might need protection from is the guido should you not pay.

hey guys.. until they raided those funds, those funds did NOT exist. the government does have its money set aside.. YOU and your belongings. the dollar is close to worthless and with nothing more valuable than the dollar to replace it you need to secure ur asset.s... seize control. dive n conquer. the usa used to belong to the people and now its RAN by the people. somehow along a banking decision to ease labor screwed everyone over... so, peopl have to turn around and do the same... how productive can americans be that they poduce to stay alive and depend on no currency? really... how much can we rely on one another without needing to second guess that u can rely on the one beside u..... fraid it kinda results in a militant lifestyle. but whats the other choice? in a way, die. the bigger the banks get the more this will happen... and once theyre funding all of the countries to battle each other you kinda self destruct... and they will more than likely continue doing it as long as people follow... to survive you'd almost have to break every f#in law (worldwide) to defeat em... or u find a group of super powerful 'clones' to infiltrate and destroy from within..... hmmm.... where can i find that?

It can be fixed. Roll back the tax cuts for the wealthy to where they were before Reagan. That would fix a lot of our problems. Don't let them go offshore for tax shelters.

No one listened to Al Gore when he asked that they stop raiding the SS funds and put it in a lock box. It is still not in a lock box.
SS was a sacred trust that we (baby boomers) funded and assured our parent's care for almost 40 years and paid in for ourselves. The "greatest generation" did very well but did very little to assure us of a decent future. That trust was destroyed when Reagan began raiding it. If Bush had succeeded in privatising it the situation would be even worse now.

When are people going to get it?

It will never be fixed!

The reason that it won't be fixed, is that politicians do not get social security.

They have their own retirement system.

If you want a system that would work, pass a law that mandates that all US politicians current and retired, can only get the median social security retirement benefit and their health benefit is limited to medicare.

If politicians are not affected by their decisions how will they make decisions that are good for everyone else.

reply to post by Wildbob77


SS is not retirement. It never was.

We all have our own retirement plans. It's called saving and safe investing. The way we used to do it before the nanny state offered to take over making us a lot poorer and dumber.

reply to post by jam321


Better yet, while Bush could not do because its lack of popularity trying to turn Social Security into a private entity that China was more than gladly to finance, our Man of hope and change will do it with is capital on popularity before he starts to lose its luster



[edit on 12-5-2009 by marg6043]

reply to post by thisguyrighthere


You're correct. I've never put any faith in the SS system. My most optimistic assessment of social security would be as a supplement to my other retirement plans and/or savings.

Originally posted by thisguyrighthere
SS was a temporary insurance program. It was never meant to last a decade let alone all this time it has lasted.

Then we have all these people who dont use it as insurance and instead try to retire off of it. WTF is that about?

Are you completely off your rocker? Do you realize how much of my income goes towards SS each year? OF COURSE WE WANT TO RETIRE OFF OF IT!

If I was able to put into my 401K as much as is pulled out of my wages each year in the name of SS, then I would be able to support 3 whole families in retirement.