[kabar]

Social Security, for example, is going broke, not because of the decades of mandatory salary deductions, but because of all the government I.O.U.'s that have basically pilfered the funds from the trust.

No, SS is going broke because it is actuarily unsound. The trust fund could contain real assets and it would still go broke. In 1950 there were 16 workers for every retiree; today there are 3.3; and by 2030 there will be two. In 2030 one in five residents of this country will be 65 or older, twice what it is now. Our aging society is what is making SS unsustainable.

[norwaypinesavage]

"SS is going broke because it is actuarily unsound."

I disagree, completely. Your social security monthly deductions are about 13% of your salary. That's all of your salary in a savings account every 8 years. In a 40 year working lifetime your actual deductions are 5 times your annual salary. With proper investing you could have a "millionaires pension". What you actually get is a millionaires savings, and a paupers pension.

Social Security is broke because it was squandered, not because there aren't enough taxes to cover it.

[gov_bean_ counter]

My guess would be that SS was first enacted with the belief than more people would never be collecting than do.