[danielmryan]

Don't forget, a very substantial percentage of those who pay FICA never receive a dime from Social Security ~ it's not just a thing about some receiving less than they paid in versus some receiving more than they paid in.

Oh, yes. In the cold world of actuarial number-crunching, that's already been factored in. The numbers remain the same.

The reason why I was going down the actuarial road was to spell out a hunch I had about Rep. Jackson-Lee's comment.

"Everyone done told me that they pay more then they get in. So what's the problem?"

[muawiyah]

Way back when Welfare Reform was a big deal (mid 1990s) there was some work done on quantifying the way Social Security deals with folks in terms of race and sex.

The basic idea was that, actuarily speaking, Social Security appeared to be a device for transferring income from black men (who have the shortest lifespan in our society) to elderly white women (who have the greatest lifespan in our society).

Turned out to be pretty nearly the case until you looked at AFDC (aid to famiies with dependent children, or welfare). Then, the federal payment to black families from AFDC, actuarily speaking, pretty much matched the loss in Social Security payments by black men who died young!

Proving, I guess, that some popular understandings of these systems are spot on.

Even the 'death panels' exist ~ and they will guide care such that the elderly infirm die sooner. We all know that, even the Democrats ~ problem is the Democrats look forward to it. They've always been the party of death and slavery.