Re: Have the Conservatives ruined United States?

On Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:56:11 -0400, "Otto"
<ottondebREMOVE%$#%^%$@@bellsouth.net> wrote:

There are conservative organizations that seem to understand the numbers.



http://www.heritage.org/Research/Budget/wm1054.cfm



http://www.nationalreview.com/nrof_bartlett/bartlett200504280951.asp



I guess we should just dump social security and medicare.

More to the point, the US never should have started these programs in
the first place.

I'm very familiar with the Heritage article and I agree with it
completely. It's a bit disingenuous to call the $37 trillion that the
government will have to pay for SS in the next 75 years as debt.
Obligation would be a better word. And, as the National Review points
out, about 2/3 of that figure will be taken care of by SS taxes even
if nothing is done. So we're really talking about $12 trillion of
unfunded obligations over the next 75 years.

The picture is still not good. SS was a mistake and now we will have
to pay for it. Is the US going to collapse because of SS, of course
not. My guess is that the US will increase SS taxes and reduce
benefits to reduce the shortfall. So, if I were in my early 40s, I'd
be sure to save for my retirement. By the time they retire (perhaps
at age 70 before they get benefits) their SS check might pay the
electric bill.

Right now, the SS retirement system is fully funded and will be for
the next 7 years. If the government wants to transfer the debt in the
SS Trust Fund to public debt, that date will move back to 2042.
Neither party has the balls to bring up the issue, so I doubt that
anything will be done in the immediate future.
.

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