This graph shows that the average man and woman (average defined in the study as average income over their working lives and living to the average life expectancy) who start receiving benefits in 2010 get over 3 times more in benefits than they pay in to the system! Of importance, the study accounts for inflation by calculating all past taxes and future payments in 2010 dollars to provide an accurate comparison.
If the notion that Medicare recipients are simply "getting back what they paid in" is false then where is the money coming from? Simply, the excess received is being borrowed from younger generations and the cost is more than we can bear.
You also seem to believe that SS is a pension scheme, not an insurance program. First, your contributions don't belong to you once put into the system. That was decided by SCOTUS some time ago, i.e., Flemming vs Nestor 1960.
Second, you could pay into SS for 50 years, drop dead the day before you would start collecting payments, and your estate would never receive a dime save for a small burial allowance. Why Social Security is a Ponzi Scheme
"Social Security's actuaries make such a calculation. It says that Social Security's unfunded liability in perpetuity is $17.5 trillion (treating the trust fund as meaningless). The program would need that much money today in a real trust fund outside the government earning a true return to pay for all the benefits that have been promised over and above future Social Security taxes. In effect, the capital stock of the nation would have to be $17.5 trillion larger than it is right now. Alternatively, the payroll tax rate would have to rise by 4%."
"To put it another way, Social Security's unfunded liability equals 1.3% of the gross domestic product. So if we were to fund its deficit with general revenues, income taxes would have to rise by 1.3% of GDP immediately and forever. With the personal income tax raising about 10% of GDP in coming years, according to the Congressional Budget Office, this means that every taxpayer would have to pay 13% more just to make sure that all Social Security benefits currently promised will be paid." SS has been running in the red since 2010.
I find it disturbing and disappointing that on a conservative website, we still have people bleating about the fact that they have paid for SS and Medicare and want their money because they "earned it." Nothing could be further from the truth. Your benefits are being subsidized by the taxpayer and future generations that are accruing a mountain of debt to pay for the benefits you enjoy or will enjoy.
For example, did you know that the premiums collected for Medicare Parts B and D pay for only 25% of the costs--by law. The rest of the money comes from the General Fund. In FY 2011 this came to $222 billion and 42 cents of every federal dollar spent is borrowed. So 42% of the tab is passed on to future generations to pay off. If Medicare is not reformed, it will consume the entire federal budget. This will entail higher payments and reduced benefits.
Mediare Part A has been running in the red since 2008.
