Posted on 08/19/2009 5:13:03 PM PDT by Libloather
Bachus: Social Security may face deficit
Legislator predicts progam could be out of money in two years
By Tommy Stevenson Associate Editor
Last Modified: Wednesday, August 19, 2009 at 9:39 a.m.
TUSCALOOSA | Social Security could face a deficit within two years, according to U.S. Rep. Spencer Bachus who met with The Tuscaloosa News editorial board Tuesday.
“The situation is much worse than people realize, especially because of the problems brought on by the recession, near depression,” said Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills, in an interview with the Tuscaloosa News editorial board.
Bachus, the ranking member of the House Committee on Financial Services, said most people seem unaware of the impending crisis. He initially said Social Security could face "default" within two years, but his staff responded later saying the Congresssman intended to say "deficit."
“What this recession has done to Social Security is pretty alarming,” he said. “We’ve known for 15 years that we were going to have to make adjustments to Social Security, but we still thought that was seven or eight years down the road. But if things don’t improve very quickly, we’re going to be dealing with that problem before we know it.”
The solvency of Social Security, which provides pensions for people older than 65, has not played a major role in the current debate about health care in Congress. Bachus said it will not likely be addressed in any health-care bill the House eventually passes, although if a Social Security bailout is needed, it will invariably have an impact on government health-care programs.
In the debate over health-care reform, Bachus said that he could support a bill that includes privately administered, nonprofit health-care co-operatives, and the elimination of fraud and waste in existing government programs like Medicaid and Medicare.
The creation of health-care co-ops run by members is an idea that has gained momentum as Democrats and President Barack Obama seem to have moved away from insisting on a “public option,” a government-run alternative to private health insurance offered by for-profit companies.
“I cannot vote for a bill that has the government intruding into the private sector, subsidizing health care and eventually putting the insurance companies out of business,” Bachus said.
As for the looming Social Security crisis, Bachus said solutions are beginning to be discussed.
“We could raise the retirement age, or in the worst case, cut back on some benefits,” he said. “But that is something we are just now beginning to get a handle on.”
Bachus visited The News the day after a standing-room-only crowd of 2,000 people attended a health care public forum he hosted in Birmingham on Monday night.
Unlike some town hall meetings that have turned chaotic across the country as members of Congress have returned to their districts during the August congressional recess, Bachus said there was “only a little friction” between opponents and supporters of various health-care proposals advanced by the Democratic majority in Congress.
“I think everyone was for the most part civil and we had a lot of people just agree to disagree,” he said. “But you can tell that health care is an issue that has energized the country, because I have never had a town meeting with 2,000 people. And we even had to turn away a lot of people because of fire department regulations.”
Several threads about Soc Sec on FR this week.
Big trouble ahead Kemosabe.........
Many folks like me who just switched from paying max SS tax for 40 yrs to collecting next year.
Some days I feel happy that Democrats will be in control when the shiite hits the fan.
Well then maybe we shouldn’t be giving 2 billion to Brazil so THEY can employ people to drill, earn money and pay taxes and so Soros can make more billions on the money he invested there just before zero announced the 2b donation.
If a person doesn’t sign up for government healthcontrol, that individual will lose all access to medicare and SS payouts, as per the pending Obama Healthcaare bill in Congress.
Since Medicare and Social Security are banckrupt, what difference does it make to a person approaching 65 years old? You’re not going to get anything out of these programs you’ve paid into all your working life.
The latter has been my expectation for the past 25 years.
Unemployment is quite high- and the number of people reaching their 62nd birthday is rising with the babyboomers.
Couple that with higher income and payroll taxes- including a possible new health care levy- a lot of people will be signing on to collect sooner than they might have originally thought.
It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see what’s coming next.
Damn dirty rat bas*ards.
If Social Security runs out of money in two years, look for senior citizens and the elderly to openly revolt and start with hanging the heads of the AARP and then proceed to members of Congress.
Instead of healthcare, maybe the government should start making Social Security into a viable entity instead of the Ponsi scheme it currently is.
This is why the Commie ‘RATS are in such a hurry to get their “death panels” set up. ObamaCare death panels are the only hope for the ‘RATS to save their Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid programs.
damn right about them want those about to reach or wh are already 62 to die or be dead...but i am not yet...LETS ROLL and take back our country!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
60,000 people have already told AARP to go to hell.
Watch for this number to increase mightily over the next few days and weeks.
This is what needs to get the media airplay. If the Seniors begin to understand that there is no money for them..maybe the outcry will cause the Democrats to focus on that instead of health care.
Irresponsible to send 2 billion to Brazil. Seniors WAKE UP..your money is going overseas.
Yes, Obamacare must pass so that no American lives to to collect socialist security...
-- Aaron Zelman and Claire Wolfe
How many of us are, like me, hoping it goes bankrupt, and dramatically so, so that we can have a chance of getting rid of it, and I don’t have to waste my productive life sending good money after bad?
I like: 1. your comment, 2. screen-name, 3. tag-line and 4. your state AND you've been a FReeper for 11 years (I don't recall seeing you before).
You need to post more. You're awesome!
The reason the “HealthCare” issue is such a hot button issue...is that the pending failure of Social Security and Medicare will be the end of the Welfare State....the Dems hope they can rake enough cash out of socialization of the entire system ....to postpone the day of reckoning a while longer...
I’ve heard that money allocated for the border fence has been reallocated for Washington DC and that construction has already started on a 20 foot high fence to be built around strategic government buildings. /s
More than that. There are reasons some of us never joined.
Sick.
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