(no subject)

[bemused_leftist]

Speaking of Social Security, I keep seeing people say that it takes some large chunk of the federal budget — without mentioning that it also BRINGS IN a large chunk of the federal income. Plus it has a reserve that earns interest.

Unfortunately Congress has been borrowing from that reserve for decades — but that is not SS’s fault.

Comments

[kelsied.livejournal.com]

That may not be a fault of the design of social security (though I think the lack of built in protections to prevent raids is a serious design flaw), but it doesn't stop me from resenting like hell that the previous generations spent their money so they could live high on the hog, and obligated me to pay for benefits so they can live well on social security and Medicare (even though I and my cohort earn less than many retirees), while I am about 90% convinced that those programs will not be available to me when I retire, unless I am very, very, radically poor.

Let the poor elderly go on welfare like everyone else. I'm not entirely joking.

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

Huh? The current retirees paid into SS while they were working, INSTEAD of living high on the hog at the time.

[kelsied.livejournal.com]

Simply, they "paid into SS" then spent the money on other things they wanted at the time (by "borrowing" the funds from Social Security). Services they didn't want to pay taxes for, but which have nevertheless been consumed, by them, long before I was born or able to benefit in most cases.

Calling it a "social security tax" doesn't mean they paid for social security -- because the money isn't there, it's already been spent on other things. So instead, my generation has to make up the difference. Which I resent.

[(Anonymous)]

An odd slant. I presume you're paying FICA now, and Congress is still borrowing from the trust fund. So, do you identify the current Congress with yourself? Do you think that 'you' should be blamed for all the money Congress is spending now -- on the war in Afganistan, on the 'war on drugs', etc etc?

As for the money being 'gone', it's been loaned out to Congress; for it to be 'gone', some future Congress would have to default. If they did, and you were a voter at that time, would you identify yourself with that Congress, and say 'you' defaulted?

[bemused-leftist.livejournal.com]

That was me.

SS hasn't yet needed to call back money loaned from the reserve. The reserve is for periods when there may be more retirees than workers, but that hasn't happened yet. (And with all these new immigrants, it may not happen.)

See http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html
Scroll down to current dates and see how much the reserve is growing.