Social Security’s Unexpected Deficits Show Urgent Need for Reform
September 29th, 2009 . by TexasFredSocial Security’s Unexpected Deficits Show Urgent Need for Reform
Starting this year, Social Security will spend more in benefits than it will receive from its payroll taxes. This is somewhat unexpected as just last year, the 2009 cash surplus was predicted to be about $80 billion. Even in May of this year, the program’s actuaries predicted a roughly $19 billion surplus. However, they failed to allow for the full effects of the recession, and the soaring unemployment both reduced tax collections and increased the number of workers who were forced to take early retirement.
This is very bad news for taxpayers, but worse is yet to follow. The 2009 deficit of about $10 billion will be followed by a 2010 deficit of about $9 billion. If there is a strong recovery-which is questionable at best-the program could briefly return to surpluses. But by 2016, deficits will return and continue permanently. A far more likely scenario is that Social Security will run deficits from this point on.
The Reality of the Trust Fund
These deficits do not mean that benefits will be cut, but they do increase the burden on taxpayers to pay them. On top of the $1 trillion-plus deficit predicted for this year to pay for the Obama Administration’s programs, taxpayers will have to find still more money to pay Social Security’s deficits. It is true that a trust fund exists that has been funded by $2.4 trillion of Social Security surpluses since 1983, but there is no real money in that trust fund.
As the Office of Management and Budget said in 2000, “These balances are available to finance future benefit payments … only in a bookkeeping sense. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits, or other expenditures.”
Congress has already spent every penny of that money, and all that is left are IOUs that must be repaid by the same taxpayers who paid the extra taxes in the first place. Taxpayers, not the trust fund, will end up covering Social Security’s deficits.
Full Story Here:
Social Security’s Unexpected Deficits Show Urgent Need for Reform
Many of my readers are retired folks. Some are retired because they have spent many years in the military, with various law enforcement agencies, some have retired from the private sector and some are retired due to health issues, disability.
I have many friend that fall into ALL of those categories.
I know some that are twice retired, they were military reserve and served their time there and went to work every day in a civilian capacity as well. Double retirement! Wow, how secure can you get? Right? So, answer this question. And you can just answer it in your head, or you can opine in comments, in any case, answer it for yourself, and be 100% honest in your answer.
How secure is YOUR retirement?
If you’re retired, civilian (private sector), military, police or any type of government employee, disability, ANY type of retirement, how safe is your retirement? And just what will you do if, by some strange quirk of fate, the government ADMITS that it’s broke and we’re operating on worthless paper?
Most of us have worked for years to earn our retirement. Some have investments to tide them over, some don’t. I know a lot of military and police retirees that had to go to work, simply because their retirement wasn’t enough to sustain a decent lifestyle. They needed to, and wanted to provide their families with MORE, and give them a better standard of living. What are these folks going to do if their retirement funds fail?
This nation is on the verge of bankruptcy and our retirees and disabled are in the most danger. If retirement funds and Social Security disappear, there will literally be MILLIONS of older Americans that are suddenly penniless.
And some of the younger folks need to pay very close attention here, YOU ARE NEXT!
Socialism is taking over America and Barack Hussein Obama is leading the way. His grand and glorious plan of redistribution of the wealth is noting more than the guise he IS using in a major effort to turn this nation into the certain failure that IS Socialism.
How do you like Obama now?
With Obambi doing everything to kill off American jobs, it doesn’t surprise me at all that SS is in the hole. We have baby boomers retiring… more demand for funds, and more people like myself who has been unemployed for months. I wasn’t counting on being able to retire at all. I had visions of my employer finding me slumped over at my desk in a few years… so that WAS my retirement plan! LOL!!! Now I figure before long, I’ll be scoping out a good interstate bridge to live under before long. I was making a good living and paying a lot of taxes to help out the baby boomers on their retirement and was AOK with that. I just want to thank the libturds in Congress and Mr. Obooboo for bankrupting the greatest nation on earth with the porkulus legislation and agenda pushing. I feel for those who have worked hard and gave blood, sweat and tears for this country, only to have decades of abusive government dump on their well earned retirement years. If they had focused on monitoring the Bernie Madeoff’s instead of funding the breeding practices of bee’s or building airports for jackasses like Murtha, we wouldn’t be considering what we will do when a truckload of dollars won’t even buy a loaf of bread or a can of SPAM!!!
Tremendous point given TF.
“So, answer this question. And you can just answer it in your head, or you can opine in comments, in any case, answer it for yourself, and be 100% honest in your answer.
How secure is YOUR retirement?”
I think I know what the majority of the answers will be.
Maybe it’s time for an economic boycott of these spendthrift assholes policies and just cut off their spending like drunken sailors. I say shut their tab off. They would wither and die pretty quick.
And just wait till they add illegal aliens to the program. I planned my retirement without social security. Even though I have paid into SS for 20 years, they still penalize me for having a state police retirement. I figure if I ever get any SS benefits, I will just use it as cricket money for fishing.
Just think what we could do with all that money the government has been taking from us under the guise of Social Security — if we had been allowed to keep it and invest it ourselves. Makes you want to cry.
Deborah F. Hamilton
Right Truth
http://www.righttruth.typepad.com
Good points Fred. I’m one of those military retirees who is depending on his military retirement.
That Social Security money is OUR money. It’s money taken from us without our consent to be piece mealed to us when were older. That fund has been raided by congress and presidents to where it’s now broke. Same thing with Medicare….that’s OUR money too.
Here’s another little tidbit that I forgot to pass along………..
For the first time in history, Congress will not allow (WILL NOT ALLOW???) an increase in The social security COLA (cost of living adjustment). In fact, The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation predicts there may not be any COLA for the next three years. However, the per person monthly Medicare
Insurance premium will be increased from the 2009 premium of $96.40 to $104.20 in 2010 and to $120.20 for the year 2011.
A law was passed recently though that as long as SS was not given a raise, medicare would stay the same.
Now how about that for being generous with OUR money that those bastards spent on THEIR suckass bills.
Let’s send e-mails to all the seniors that you know to remind them not to vote for the incumbent scumbag senators and congressmen in the 2010 and the 2012 Elections.
And don’t forget to remind them…….- CONGRESS GAVE THEMSELVES A PAY RAISE THIS YEAR…WHAT KIND OF CRAP IS THAT?????? That totally PMO!!!
Vigilante, those are all points that make me mad. I went through McDonald’s today and saw a lady who had to be 70 or so working the drive thru window. That shouldn’t be happening.
Damn Fred had a nice comment going and hit a wrong key and it vanished—good thing I’m not sitting in the Oval Office, hitting a wrong key there might mean I would have to talk to a general in the field.
I’m no expert on retirement plans. I just had a 401K and that and social security are it for me. I understand many government units across the nation are having problems some because of way to generous retirement plans caused by union and special interest groups—this is not so much the case in my area, while the retirement packages are small at least the local and state government here can pay them—In places like CA things are out of control and this seems to be the case on the upper east coast also. One can guess why. I saw many people working for Wal Mart in FL who had retired from the NYPD and NYFD, these guys were in their early 40′s and had very good retirement pay and often bragged about it, but nevertheless wanted to make more for their families. Also their dollars would go further here in the south—lower property taxes etc.
Fox, if you were typing in the Oval Office, maybe one wrong keystroke and you could make Air Force One disappear somewhere between the USA and Copenhagen!!!! OK, I’ve said my tacky, tasteless comment, but I feel much better! LOL!!!
Fred, we could blame Iranian terrorist get “two birds……………..”
ONE THING ABOUT BUSH:
Didn’t he INSIST that social security was on its last legs?
YES.
And who heeded him?
NO-fucking-ONE.
Problems delayed simply snowball.
BZ
@BZ… Exactly..
@HoosierArmyMom
You are so right. It is a shame that so many elderly men and women are having to go back into the work force. Times are changing so fast with technology, I’m sure they are overwhelmed with how advanced everything is now. I do have to admit I find it nice to be around their Politeness, Caring attitudes. I would much rather get a smile than a snarl any day. It is messed up beyond belief.
Esp when I know there are people collecting FREE crap and wouldn’t work if you gave them a job.
I don’t understand why they won’t support The Military That Busts Their Asses Off For Us Daily.
But hey the military always gets screwed. They get a pay raise, then they go to purchase anything for their uniform and guess what? Uniforms go up. So they get a pay raise and everything at the Exchange all of a sudden goes up. Grrrr. Venting sorry.
My daughter lost a tooth tonight and she wrote the Tooth Fairy a very sweet note asking for $1.00. So if the Tooth Fairy leaves her $2.00 under her pillow will it be there when she wakes up? Or will Uncle Sam come and snatch it in the night? Better super glue it!!!!!!!
hht, you have earned the privileged of venting. Congress is bankrupting our country and they don’t forget to vote themselves a phat raise. We can never give enough to those who agree to give everything, if necessary, for our freedom and security, but our leaders don’t seem to “get it’.
I’m with you, I love to have a friendly exchange with older folks when I go out, but… I hate to see them working when they should be at home enjoying being there for their family and doing the things they love. They have earned that security and privileged. My grandmother was able to bake pies for her “War Mothers” organization at the county fair every year and enjoyed it. Everyone who works toward retirement should have the choice. It’s so sad.
I keep adding a “d” to privilege. Sorry… doh di doh.
The “Ruling Class” in DC is the cause of ALL our present national and international problems. When the Rulers get through discussing and passing Social Security reform it will look like a hide that has been run over by a buffalo stampede. The same for Health Care Reform. The same for Immigration. The same for something called Climate Change. And Medicare.
All retired Federal employees do not receive full social security benefits. Yeah, that is correct. I am one of them. Even though I paid into the social security for many, many of my early years, I have a huge cut in my benefits from social security. Called WEP, by the bureaucrats. No way around it unless it gets repealed by Congress. A bummer they never tell you about till you find out when you retire and 6 weeks later get your retirement check. Sinister, that they never tell you about it.
And I mean, they do not tell you, period.
So, I paid a HUGE deduction every 2 weeks in my paycheck for 35 YEARS, yes 35 years of this bi-weekly deduction, and then find out all about it.
Makes one want to go back and find the person who caused this and put a bullet in his/her head with your “retired” duty weapon.
But no, we were not trained to react this way,
So, at this old, tired retired age, you can only think about it.
Just don’t let it fester, and cause you to do something stupid.
Just bitch and groan, and maybe you will feel better by going fishing, or something.
The only thing that I really hate is all the illegal, arrogant, pinche mexicans around here that think this is their country, and we owe them something. Pinche mexicanos, ptoo, spit on the ground.