Replies to post #289295 on Zeev's Turnips Patch-No Politics (ZEEV)

[lee kramer]

Hi Zeev: I've been up a couple of hours. Must be the full schmoon.

[TJ Parker]

"45 years of on the average $15,000 per year"

hrm. actually, i think that's high. even now the contribution is something like 6.2%, capped at under $87k, so the maximum contribution is slightly north of $5000/yr.

[urmygold1]

the problem with social security and medicare is the democrats gave a FREE LUNCH! government employees were exempt from paying until the 1980's and now we have all these freeloaders receiving benefits from a program into which they NEVER paid! these grandiose SCHEMES by FDR and JOHNSON for political gain were never properly funded even IF the government employees had paid all those years!what a bunch of crap! thats why i say a plague on both the republicans and democrats houses...WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN SOLD DOWN THE RIVER ONCE AGAIN URMY!

[ajtj99]

Zeev, you know quite well Social Security has always been pay as you go (how would we have had the money to pay the initial recipients if it were not?).

If they needed to fully fund Social Security like pensions, we'd be in a heap of trouble.

They do need to do something to avoid stuff like 1 worker funding 2 retirees like may happen in Japan. I'm not holding my breath waiting for a solution that avoids that. It would just make too much sense.

This issue will not be any easier to solve as the population ages and the politics make it impossible to reform the program.

Nobody has the guts to tackle this now, and that's not a surprise, as it's a no-win situation politically.