Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Safety Net Shreds
Investors.com ^ | March 29, 2010 | INVESTORS BUSINESS DAILY Staff

Posted on 03/29/2010 4:15:30 PM PDT by Kaslin

Entitlements: Social Security's chief actuary reports that the social safety net will run a deficit for 2010, nine years earlier than predicted. Put down that big gavel, Madam Speaker, we're about to hit the iceberg.

No sooner had House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, carrying the gavel used when Medicare was enacted, taken a victory lap around the Capitol Building after passage of the health care bill than did the chief actuary of the Social Security Administration report that his part of the social safety net had a big hole in it and would run a deficit for all of 2010.

Stephen C. Goss said that payments rose "unexpectedly" during the economic downturn as jobs disappeared and people feeling no hope and seeing little change opted to apply for benefits sooner than planned. Revenues also shrank due to fewer paychecks to tax.

Failure of the stimulus to keep unemployment under 8%, as the administration promised, has taken its toll on the entitlement. According to Goss, the administration expected a quicker, stronger recovery from the financial crisis. Officials foresaw an average unemployment rate of 8.2% in 2009 and 8.8% this year, though unemployment is hovering near 10%.

The 2010 shortfall is expected to be $29 billion, but it's still early. It could get bigger as the economy collapses under the weight of increased debt and deficits spurred on by the new taxes and economic disincentives of newly passed ObamaCare. Then, looming ahead, is the angel of economic death known as cap-and-trade.

(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Front Page News; Government
KEYWORDS: 111th; babyboomers; bho44; bhohealthcare; budgetdeficit; cbo; cluelessindc; congress; cradletograve; deficit; deficits; democrat; democrats; djsob; economy; elderly; entitlements; epicfail; government; healthcare; hopeychangey; ibd; impeachobama; insolvency; medicare; nancypelosi; nannystate; obama; obamacare; obamaeconomy; oldpeople; orzsag; pelosi; peterorzsag; ponzischeme; retirees; safetymet; safetynet; seasonedcitizens; seniors; socialism; socialsecurity; speakerpelosi; ssa; taxes; thirdrail; unfundedliability
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-33 next last

1 posted on 03/29/2010 4:15:30 PM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Get ready for means testing!


2 posted on 03/29/2010 4:16:25 PM PDT by JoSixChip (It's time to embrace the madness! The sooner we default the sooner we can reorganize.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoSixChip
Yes. That's the ticket.

I have been forced to pay into this scam for almost 40 years now and will probably never collect a cent of it in return.

That's why my plan for retirement was completed totally independent of any calculation on Social Security.

3 posted on 03/29/2010 4:19:08 PM PDT by johniegrad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

It really is all unsustainable. At some point something will have to give.


4 posted on 03/29/2010 4:20:28 PM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: johniegrad

Yeah, mine too. Which is why we’ll both get screwed.


5 posted on 03/29/2010 4:20:56 PM PDT by Cyber Liberty (Build a man a fire; he'll be warm for a night. Set a man on fire; he'll be warm the rest of his life)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Yep, what I’ve been saying. And they could print more money, but they’re shying away from that this time. Why? Because there’s not enough manufacturing to tax for it, this time. The money wouldn’t only be inflated. It would be truly worthless. And government employees won’t benefit from worthless money any more than the rest of us.

And the communist takeover that so many of us are harping about? It can’t happen without heavy manufacturing. What are they going to take over—our factories in China?


6 posted on 03/29/2010 4:21:07 PM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoSixChip

Means testing & higher retirement age coming soon. The producer class will lose its benefits. The consumer class will have cradle to grave income courtesy of Uncle Sam’s redistribution of wealth. After all, it is “fair”.


7 posted on 03/29/2010 4:22:21 PM PDT by Soul of the South (When times are tough the tough get going.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
"Revenues also shrank due to fewer paychecks to tax."

How about telling the truth that DC spent the money and now can not repay it due to lack of new money coming in.

8 posted on 03/29/2010 4:23:57 PM PDT by guitarplayer1953 (Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to GOD! Thomas Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: johniegrad

I think the 401k that people save in to supplement their SS income will be the reason they don’t receive any SS. I have a small 401k, only enough to take advantage of the company match. All other savings has been cash. Which comes in handy now that I have been layed off for 15 months.


9 posted on 03/29/2010 4:25:04 PM PDT by JoSixChip (It's time to embrace the madness! The sooner we default the sooner we can reorganize.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Besides means testing and pushing back retirement age, here's what else will happen; anyone with an independent federal pension (less Pres./Vice-pres., Congress, and Judges) will be required to offset his Social Security Benefits dollar for dollar from the federal pension. In other words, people receiving earned benefits will have to pay out of those benefits to receive Social Security Benefits.

Of course, those who have not earned any benefits will still get everything they want as entitlements.

10 posted on 03/29/2010 4:31:38 PM PDT by DakotaGator (Weep for the lost Republic! And keep your powder dry!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: johniegrad
Anyone who's in their 40s or younger (such as myself) must simply conclude that Social Security will not be there when we reach retirement age (as distinct from retiring, which our erstwhile "parents" - those "wonderful" baby-boomers - have made well-nigh impossible), and that the monies we pay in as payroll taxes are nothing more than a species of general income tax revenues, and not part of some false, fraudulent, phony "social safety net" that will be there in our old age.

Quite frankly, by now we should be getting used to being played for sukkahs by our parents - it has long been apparent that the baby-boomer generation is one of the worst in history.

Sic Semper Tyrannis, small version
11 posted on 03/29/2010 4:31:57 PM PDT by Oceander (The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance -- Thos. Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: johniegrad

My husband and I paid into the program for a combined 60 years and we just started collecting. We don’t have much of a choice about depending on social security. What were these idiots thinking when they declined to address the problem of social security when Bush was President? This absolutely makes me sick.


12 posted on 03/29/2010 4:45:24 PM PDT by mia
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Oceander

Agreed. I’m a Baby Boomer, and I say, “Cut ‘em off!” Simply shut down Social Security and all of that. You’ll have that chance after the big default. Just make sure that you abolish the anti-competition zoning laws against small manufacturing operations, so that rebuilding will be possible.


13 posted on 03/29/2010 4:48:27 PM PDT by familyop (cbt. engr. (cbt), NG, '89-' 96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: mia
What were these idiots thinking when they declined to address the problem of social security when Bush was President?

Kick the can down the road aways. Since it would be politically unpopular to fix, they try to make someone else fix it.

When all you are about is getting elected, you have no interest in the tough decisions or following a moral code if it costs you votes.

14 posted on 03/29/2010 4:52:45 PM PDT by johniegrad
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: familyop
Agreed. And considering that the union puppet-masters are now pushing for the fascists, I mean democrats, to seize all private pension/retirement arrangements, forget about using a 401(k) or other tax-advantaged arrangement to save for your retirement years, it's time to go back to doing it the old-fashioned way, the way that the greatest generation, and their parents, did it - scrimping and saving and buying blue-chip stocks bit by bit and holding on to them for the long, long, long term (no tax until disposition, at least). They managed to do it, and so can we.

In the meantime, the grim reaper will, ultimately, solve the "problem" of the baby-boomer generation for us (no insult to you as an individual intended - there is a definite distinction between individuals who happen to be in the same age cohort as the baby-boomer generation and the generation itself, as typified by the individuals who "speak" for the generation qua generation).

ObamaliberalismObama,Buck Ofama,Buck,Ofama,Democrats,liberals
15 posted on 03/29/2010 4:56:08 PM PDT by Oceander (The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance -- Thos. Jefferson)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The insanity begins to collapse on itself.


16 posted on 03/29/2010 5:29:01 PM PDT by Del Rapier
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Everything that happens while the dems are in control is “unexpectedly”.


17 posted on 03/29/2010 5:31:13 PM PDT by exnavy (May the Lord grant our troops protection and endurance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JoSixChip

My advice to you is cash in that 401K before the marxists get it, too.


18 posted on 03/29/2010 5:33:38 PM PDT by exnavy (May the Lord grant our troops protection and endurance.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: familyop; Oceander

>I’m a Baby Boomer, and I say, “Cut ‘em off!”

Ah, a sane one!

>Simply shut down Social Security and all of that.

Not only that, replace the progressive income tax with an across-the-board individual income tax (the IRS could then be disbanded and/or folded into the FBI). (No corporate tax.) Disband the Dept of Education, Dept of Energy, Dept of Labor, Dept of Transportation (actually DOT could be re-chartered to EXCLUSIVELY enforce the interstate commerce regulation clause; depriving Congress of that rationale). Start going through the [Federal] lawbooks and throw out EVERYTHING that isn’t specifically authorized by the constitution. Make it legal for duels in Federally controlled districts/’properties.’ (This will solve the “term-limit problem”... if the Constituents are determined enough.)

As you can see, I have no hope of ever being elected.

>You’ll have that chance after the big default.

We shall see.


19 posted on 03/29/2010 5:44:35 PM PDT by OneWingedShark (Q: Why am I here? A: To do Justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with my God.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: Cyber Liberty; johniegrad

Some numbers for you guys...

Life to date I’ve paid in $230,095 and by the time of retirement in 2021 will have paid in more than $365,000...

At 5% earnings compounded I would have a fund worth just under $1,000,000 that could pay me a benefit of $60,000 per year to age 95 (not that I’m going to live that long and which is a lot less than the benefit that would actually be paid) with over $200,000 remaining in the fund at death...

At 8% earnings compounded it is obscene how much cash there would be...

If that’s not theft I don’t know what is...


20 posted on 03/29/2010 5:49:12 PM PDT by BamaBlue
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-33 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson