In my opinion, bringing up social security or medicare cuts is political suicide. Unfortunately, changes need to be made. When these programs were implemented, the life-span in the US was much lower than it is today. Couple that with the retiring baby-boomer generation, and costs will exceed revenue very soon. I have added some stats that I have pulled up ? I am looking for another site for the life span calculations as well but am very busy at work.
At some point, for some generation, age limit will need to be increased and benefits will need to be reduced. It is simple economics. Higher taxes on it will also probably be necessary. This probably could have been avoided if the money that went into the Social Security Trust Fund would have been kept there rather than allowing it to be used for other purposes and dropping an IOU into the account for the money that was spent. When Social Security was implemented by FDR, the money was to be put in it?s own account and only used to pay benefits. Somehow, Nixon convinced Congress to put the money in the General Fund so that it could be used for any purpose??getting Congress to pull SS $ out of the General Fund and put it back into its own fund would be my first step in fixing the problem.
Some stats?..
Beneficiaries and Costs
? Year - Beneficiaries - Dollars
? 1937 - 53,236 - $1,278,000
? 1938 - 213,670 - $10,478,000
? 1939 - 174,839 - $13,896,000
? 1940 - 222,488 - $35,000,000
? 1950 - 3,477,243 - $961,000,000
? 1960 - 14,844,589 - $11,245,000,000
? 1970 - 26,228,629 - $31,863,000,000
? 1980 - 35,584,955 - $120,511,000,000
? 1990 - 39,832,125 - $247,796,000,000
? 1995 - 43,387,259 - $332,553,000,000
? 1996 - 43,736,836 - $347,088,000,000
? 1997 - 43,971,086 - $361,970,000,000
? 1998 - 44,245,731 - $374,990,000,000
? 1999 - 44,595,624 - $385,768,000,000
? 2000 - 45,414,794 - $407,644,000,000
? 2001 - 45,877,506 - $431,949,000,000
? 2002 - 46,444,317 - $453,746,000,000
? 2003 - 47,038,486 - $470,778,000,000
? 2004 - 47,687,693 - $493,263,000,000
? 2005 - 48,434,436 - $520,748,000,000
? 2006 - 49,122,624 - $546,238,000,000
? 2007 - 49,864,838 - $584,939,000,000
? 2008 - 50,898,244 - $615,344,000,000
? 2009 ? 53 million - $686,000,000,000 ? ($807,000,000,000 paid in by 153 million ? surplus of $121 Billion)
Unfortunately, it is labeled the Social Security Trust fund but it is not a trust. The surplus is allowed to be used by the government for other purposes as mentioned below and that is where the trouble comes in. The trust fund is given Treasury notes that it is owed money by the US Treasury. But, the money has been spent. As the US Gov?t is already in the red for $14 Trillion not including money owed to Social Security, it is a real issue.
Tables published by the government's National Center for Health Statistics show that life expectancy at birth was 47.3 years in 1900, rose to 68.2 by 1950 and reached 77.3 in 2002. The latest annual report of the Social Security trustees projects that life expectancy will increase just six years in the next seven decades, to 83 in 2075. A separate set of projections, by the Census Bureau, shows more rapid growth.
(from wiki below)
Social Security is a social insurance program officially called "Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance" (OASDI), in reference to its three components. It is primarily funded through a dedicated payroll tax of 12.4%. During 2009, total benefits of $686 billion were paid out versus income (taxes and interest) of $807 billion, a $121 billion annual surplus. An estimated 156 million people paid into the program and 53 million received benefits, roughly 2.94 workers per beneficiary.. This annual surplus is credited to Social Security trust funds that hold special non-marketable Treasury securities, and this surplus amount is commonly referred to as the "Social Security Trust Fund". The proceeds are paid into the U.S. Treasury where they may be used for other government purposes. Social Security spending will increase sharply over the next decades, largely due to the retirement of the baby boom generation. The number of program recipients is expected to increase from 44 million in 2010 to 73 million in 2030.[34] Program spending is projected to rise from 4.8% of GDP in 2010 to 5.9% of GDP by 2030, where it will stabilize.
