It Is Past Time To Raise The SS And Medicare Eligibility Ages

[Fort Fun Indiana]

The Baby Boomers will never stop being thieves until they're all dead

And there you have it.

 

[boedicca]

Just for ease of writing purposes, I am henceforth going to call the Social Security and Medicare eligibility age the "retirement age".

In 1982, a very cowardly Congress raised the retirement age from 65 to 67. I call them cowardly because the 67 retirement age would not take full effect until 40 years in the future, after most of them were dead. They did not raise the retirement age immediately because they did not want to piss off the voters, and the 20 year olds who would be affected didn't vote in large numbers.

But consider the following facts.

1) In 1935, when Social Security was enacted, the average life expectancy was 60.

2) In 1935, only 5.4 percent of the US population was over the age of 65. Social Security was intended to support those who lived past the average. It was not an "entitlement" for everyone. It was INSURANCE.

3) In 1965, when Medicare was added to the entitlement package, only 9 percent of the US population was over the age of 65. Remember that 9 percent figure.

4) Today, around 15 percent of the US population is over the age of 65.


What this means is that we have an unsustainable trend of a greater and greater proportion of Americans being supported by a smaller and smaller proportion of Americans.

Take a look at this: Social Security History

In 1940, there were 159.4 workers for every Social Security recipient.

By 1960, there were 5.1 workers for every Social Security recipient.

Today, there are only 2.8 workers for every Social Security recipient.

And this trend is just going to get worse.

More in the next post.

The Ponzi Scheme is still a Ponzi scheme no matter how high you make the age qualifier.

We wouldn't have this problem is people's SS taxes went into their own privately owned retirement funds instead.

Just sayin'.

SS is a bad system but it isn't a Ponzi scheme.

It's snowballing into one. With the ratio of taxpayers to beneficiaries collapsing towards 2:1, we are heading to the point where beneficiaries will receive less than they put in. Instead of the funds being properly invested, the government spent the money and stuffed the box with IOUs. This means that money must be collected from new people to pay off the prior contributors. Rather Ponzi-like, imo.

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

We are LIVING longer, we should be WORKING longer.

Common. Fricking. Sense.

Well sure, but YOUR solution is to go back and raise to an ager where everyone dies off before they can get it.

Let's just force everyone to start smoking 2 packs a day once they hit their 40s. Then we can time them dying off right when they retire.

 

[Oddball]

Perhaps it wouldn't exist if you had a better plan or a better argument.

A great plan is to quit waving a gun in my face, while you steal my money and tell me how great your plan is....And if you think I'm engaging in hyperbole, what will happen if I continually insist upon refusing to go along with The State's plan?

You are losing the argument with such ideological hyperbole.

What will happen if I resist is that eventually someone with a gun strapped to them will come and force me to comply...And if I further resist, they are authorized to draw and use that weapon......That's not hyperbole, dude.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

Perhaps it wouldn't exist if you had a better plan or a better argument.

A great plan is to quit waving a gun in my face, while you steal my money and tell me how great your plan is....And if you think I'm engaging in hyperbole, what will happen if I continually insist upon refusing to go along with The State's plan?

You are losing the argument with such ideological hyperbole.

What will happen if I resist is that eventually someone with a gun strapped to them will come and force me to comply...And if I further resist, they are authorized to draw and use that weapon......That's not hyperbole, dude.

Right, that is just how we treat criminals.

 

[Toro]

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

Also, we aren't having enough babies, and we aren't bringing in enough immigrants.

 

[boedicca]

It's snowballing into one. With the ratio of taxpayers to beneficiaries collapsing towards 2:1, we are heading to the point where beneficiaries will receive less than they put in. Instead of the funds being properly invested, the government spent the money and stuffed the box with IOUs. This means that money must be collected from new people to pay off the prior contributors. Rather Ponzi-like, imo.

The average SS recipient has received more than they put in plus compounded interest simply because the average person has lived longer than originally expected. You can't expect that to last forever.

You are correct that the demographic problem will put strains on the system and ultimately will have to be changed. SS is a bad system. However, a Ponzi Scheme promises sky-high returns that are funded solely by other individuals contributions. Neither are true of SS.

SS is worse than a Ponzi Scheme. It promises a safety net of financial security, and taxes lower wage people to the point where it is far more difficult to save for their own retirements (making them wards of the government). Then the government drives up inflation, making the "returns" even worse. So, morally, it's not better than a Ponzi Scheme.

 

[Roo2]

The Ponzi Scheme is still a Ponzi scheme no matter how high you make the age qualifier.

We wouldn't have this problem is people's SS taxes went into their own privately owned retirement funds instead.

Just sayin'.

SS is a bad system but it isn't a Ponzi scheme.

It's snowballing into one. With the ratio of taxpayers to beneficiaries collapsing towards 2:1, we are heading to the point where beneficiaries will receive less than they put in. Instead of the funds being properly invested, the government spent the money and stuffed the box with IOUs. This means that money must be collected from new people to pay off the prior contributors. Rather Ponzi-like, imo.

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

We are LIVING longer, we should be WORKING longer.

Common. Fricking. Sense.

Well sure, but YOUR solution is to go back and raise to an ager where everyone dies off before they can get it.

Let's just force everyone to start smoking 2 packs a day once they hit their 40s. Then we can time them dying off right when they retire.

Smoking killed my mother, my father and my stepfather. I see no humor in that, but that's just me.

 

[Toro]

What will happen if I resist is that eventually someone with a gun strapped to them will come and force me to comply...And if I further resist, they are authorized to draw and use that weapon......That's not hyperbole, dude.

Not an argument that will end SS. Sorry.

 

[boedicca]

SS is a bad system but it isn't a Ponzi scheme.

It's snowballing into one. With the ratio of taxpayers to beneficiaries collapsing towards 2:1, we are heading to the point where beneficiaries will receive less than they put in. Instead of the funds being properly invested, the government spent the money and stuffed the box with IOUs. This means that money must be collected from new people to pay off the prior contributors. Rather Ponzi-like, imo.

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

We are LIVING longer, we should be WORKING longer.

Common. Fricking. Sense.

Well sure, but YOUR solution is to go back and raise to an ager where everyone dies off before they can get it.

Let's just force everyone to start smoking 2 packs a day once they hit their 40s. Then we can time them dying off right when they retire.

Smoking killed my mother, my father and my stepfather. I see no humor in that, but that's just me.

I apologize. It's gallows humor and meant to underscore how unethical SS is.

 

[Oddball]

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

Also, we aren't having enough babies, and we aren't bringing in enough immigrants.

IOW, The State is neither omniscient, nor flexible in their economic models....Thanks for helping me make my argument, bro.

 

[g5000]

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

Also, we aren't having enough babies, and we aren't bringing in enough immigrants.

Yeah, that's something else the pseudocons can't seem to grasp. Fundamental things like that.

 

[Toro]

SS is worse than a Ponzi Scheme. It promises a safety net of financial security, and taxes lower wage people to the point where it is far more difficult to save for their own retirements (making them wards of the government). Then the government drives up inflation, making the "returns" even worse. So, morally, it's not better than a Ponzi Scheme.

The reason why the poverty rate has dropped substantially amongst senior citizens over the decades is because the working poor do not and never have saved enough for their retirement. SS forces them to save in ways they never would have.

This is an empirical fact - people consistently under-estimate that they have to save more than they really do. They don't reduce their living standards and increase their savings rate when they are earning money. They simply don't.

 

[Oddball]

What will happen if I resist is that eventually someone with a gun strapped to them will come and force me to comply...And if I further resist, they are authorized to draw and use that weapon......That's not hyperbole, dude.

Not an argument that will end SS. Sorry.

It will collapse of its own weight, no matter what happens...I'm for facing the reality, rather than pretending that enough polish is going to turn a turd into a lump of gold.

 

[Roo2]

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

Also, we aren't having enough babies, and we aren't bringing in enough immigrants.

Yeah, that's something else the pseudocons can't seem to grasp. Fundamental things like that.

Well if you guys would start having sex with women and not men it'd be a start.

 

[Toro]

That ratio is dropping precisely because we are living longer. A larger and larger percentage of Americans are over 65.

Also, we aren't having enough babies, and we aren't bringing in enough immigrants.

IOW, The State is neither omniscient, nor flexible in their economic models....Thanks for helping me make my argument, bro.

Any other bumper sticker bromides you wish to post?

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

It will collapse of its own weight

Nonsense. It will only collapse, if we allow it to do so.

 

[g5000]

What will happen if I resist is that eventually someone with a gun strapped to them will come and force me to comply...And if I further resist, they are authorized to draw and use that weapon......That's not hyperbole, dude.

Not an argument that will end SS. Sorry.

It will collapse of its own weight, no matter what happens...I'm for facing the reality, rather than pretending that enough polish is going to turn a turd into a lump of gold.

It SS collapses, it will be because of willful ignorance and demagoguery.

 

[Toro]

It will collapse of its own weight

Nonsense. It will only collapse, if we allow it to do so.

And one way to do so is to increase the age which you can receive it.

 

[Lesh]

That turns SS from a savings plan to a welfare plan.

Not even a little bit. The cap is arbitrary

 

[Lesh]

And one way to do so is to increase the age which you can receive it.

Yea...make it so that you have to be on your deathbed to collect