Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to "Recovery Plan" reality check

And entitlements

The latest on Social Security and Medicare

The Medicare Report shows that the HI Trust Fund could be brought into actuarial balance over the next 75 years by changes equivalent to an immediate 134 percent increase in the payroll tax (from a rate of 2.9 percent to 6.78 percent), or an immediate 53 percent reduction in program outlays, or some combination of the two. Larger changes would be required to make the program solvent beyond the 75-year horizon.

...Social Security could be brought into actuarial balance over the next 75 years with changes equivalent to an immediate 16 percent increase in the payroll tax (from a rate of 12.4 percent to 14.4 percent) or an immediate reduction in benefits of 13 percent or some combination of the two. Ensuring that the system remains solvent on a sustainable basis beyond the next 75 years would require larger changes because increasing longevity will result in people receiving benefits for ever longer periods of retirement.


You really want gray hair, remember what actually happens when the government "redeems trust fund assets," which are essentially government bonds that were purchased by...the government. Where does THAT money come from?

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (5 posts)