I am 73 years old collecting SS, Medicare, and a six digit federal pension. I have been "retired" for 17 years.
Many of these programs would be well-funded and healthy if not for what the politicians have wrought over the decades - do you trust them to "handle it"?
Wrong. They are actuarily unsustainable. SS and Medicare are pay as you go programs, i.e, today's workers pay for today's retirees. SS has been running in the red since 2010 and Medicare since 2008, i.e., payouts exceed revenue. The shortfalls are made up by cashing in the non-market, interest bearing T-bills in the trust funds. Since we borrow about 40% of the money we spend, we have to borrow money in the general fund to pay for benefits.
By law, the premiums for Medicare Part B cover only 25% of the costs. The rest comes from the General Fund. 40% of all Medicare expenditures come from the General Fund.
The politicians need to change the laws for entitlement programs or they will bankrupt us. They are the biggest drivers of debt. They represent a 60 trillion unfunded liability over a 75 year period or well over $100 trillion over a longer period. How else can these programs be reformed if not by the politicians? The laws have to be changed.
Stop funding illegals and turn welfare into a basic subsistence program for those who can't fend for themselves instead of a gravy train and stop all the pork and other wastes and we would see a big swing in the right direction to keep the contract that was forced upon us/them.
We have 80 million on Medicaid, 54 million on SS, 47 million on Medicare, and 46 million on food stamps. Where is the political will to support the changes you want to cut off the "gravy train?" In the next 20 years the population over 65 will double to 80 million. And the number of taxpayers for each worker will decline to two for every retiree.
Thanks for the info - it is telling that folks who already have theirs are more likely to want to “fix” the programs rather than look at other ways to stop the money drain. My wife and I are both retired and getting fair retirements along with SS so we aren’t in the group that would be hurt the worst. I understand the rational and the need to fix the programs but would rather that folks who have been paying in all their lives, and planning on the programs as part of their retirement not be relegated to living worse off than the welfare leeches because the politicians have thrown all the money away.
“...and a six digit federal pension.”
You must have been a Senior. I did 36.5 years and only made 13 step 10.