Social Security Completely Depleted By 2037
Monday, September 14th, 2009
You do not have to go to Fox News or Rush Limbaugh to find out how incompetent the Federal Government is at managing current social programs in order to make a more educated decision on a future Government- run Health Care System. Since the middle of August, several articles have been put out by the AP and Scripps Howard warning Americans about “daunting and dangerous challenges” bearing down on federal programs.
An Associated Press story compared Social Security to a giant Ponzi scheme like that of Bernie Madoff. Social Security takes contributions for current workers to pay benefits for retirees. The scheme worked great when the ratio of workers to retirees was 16:1. That produced a massive surplus in funds which was wrongfully used to “finance the rest of the government.” As Baby Boomers have started reaching retirement age, the ratio has been whittled to 6:1. With increased life expectancy for seniors, a continuing decrease in American childbirths (not to mention 1 million annual abortions since 1973), “the day of reckoning is fast approaching.”
“We had a remarkable 25-year run in terms of the economy. We had this wonderful demographic holiday where the baby boomers were moving through their main earning years. Now, the economy is in tatters, the boomers are ready to retire,
the world is sick of our debt. The problems are much bigger”, William Gale, co-director of the Tax Policy Center says.
Trustees of the system forecast money paid out in benefits will exceed tax dollars flowing in by 2016. “With no changes, Social Security will be completely depleted in 2037, according to trustees.” The story goes on to say Medicare is in even worse shape. The government health care plan designed to cover seniors and handicapped Americans has been “paying out more than it takes in since last year and is projected to go insolvent in 2017.”
Recently, the President undermined his own argument concerning greater competitive efficiency with a Government option in health care insurance coverage at a town hall meeting in Colorado. He compared the success of UPS and Fed Ex with the problems suffered by the the US Postal Service. John M Crisp, of the Scripps Howard News Service, reiterated this in an August 13 story. “The handwriting is on the wall of the local post office… the US Postal Service is probably on its way out.”
The USPS had a $7 billion deficit in 2008; it faces one of the same size for 2009. With mail volume down, due to increased internet use for communicating and paying bills, almost 700 local post offices have been selected for closure. Increasing postage rates has failed to staunch the bleeding. Time will tell whether the USPS survives as a federal institution.
In light of the well documented failure of current federal social programs such as Social Security and Medicare, state programs like Medicaid, and federal departments like the Postal Service and Amtrak, should the American people trust the Government to design a socialized health care system which will come to control 1/6 of the entire US economy? With the evidence put forth by a variety of sources, the answer must be a resounding “No”.
