Posted on 06/10/2010 4:01:47 PM PDT by blam
Social Security Payouts Are Already Crippling The Government This Year
Bruce Krasting
Jun. 10, 2010, 5:40 PM
There is enough published information from the Social Security Trust Fund to make some observations for the first six months of 2010. The data on FICA/SECA tax receipts and benefit payments: (all amounts in $billions)
The numbers are going in the wrong direction. Receipts are down across the board while expenses keep rising. This chart looks at the Jan.-June results for 2008-2010.
These lines were not expected to cross for at least another five years. This is the cost of the protracted recession and the failure of the economy to generate new jobs. The 2008-2009 increase in benefits was at a nosebleed level of 9.5%. That level has collapsed to 3.9% in the 2009-2010 period. This is the result of a “0%” COLA increase for 2010. The flip side is that those receiving checks are getting squeezed as their costs rise and income is stable. In the real world COLA is a joke. As this evolves it will just be a drag on consumption and extend the weak economy.
Most analysts, the CBO and the SSTF look at the Fund’s results in the context of a 75-year time horizon. Some point to a date in 2037 as a point where SS “may have problems”. I leave that discussion to others. It has been well proven that we can’t look two years into the future with any degree of accuracy. I prefer to look at the here and now and focus on cash flow. Consider the changes in the 2009-2010 semi annual period:
Cash flow has fallen from $63b to $7b from 2008 to 2010.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Just glad to know I’m doing my bit.
Hasn’t stopped the presses has it ....
Slavery by debt so large it can never be repaid.
Totals % change in table is clearly wrong. Casts serious doubt on rest of article. Middle school math remediation required.
Bernie Madoff got nothin’ on Social Security.
Biggest Ponzi scheme ever.
SS and Medicare are Ponzi schemes.
As the baby boomers balloon the ranks of the elderly over the next 30 years, both programs will have to be cut drastically.
There’s no way our kids and grandkids can pay enough taxes to make them viable.
My hope is that the Democrats who did this will receive “credit” for it.
I knew that would happen as soon as I got on it. No wonder they put me off for months.
Bruce Krasting, you need to gain some spreadsheet skillz.
Went down to file, and within 5 weeks got a check for %6,000-— back pay? I’m afraid ever to ask. I didn’t ask for retroactive payments, but it’s nice they feel generous. I really do owe an apology to the grandkids, leaving them this ginormous debt as they call it. I’m ready for a new breed that sees Public Servants, as servants, and not masters. They need to give away THEIR money, and not every one else’s money. Was at the bus station, MORE people pan handling in the USA than in Mexico! And folks, before now, I would reach in my pocket and help, but now I tell them to ask for the Stimulus...every other hog is at the feeding trough.
I don’t see any percentage notation on my screen.
The table is just an arithmetic comparison.
% cell at total row is the sum of the above % changes. Bad math.
I’m not a math whiz, but I caught that right away. The table is adding the percentage deficit from month to month. That’s not how it works.
My bad. Now my complaint is that the table is too simplistic. ;-)
Turns out they are not %. Just absolutes. See above point.
Are you sure anyone is going to try?
Nothing wrong with the tables. There’s no units given, completely correct.
Thanks for breaking the ice for the rest of us. :)
I just turned 62 and I start collecting in August (you can’t start collecting until 2 months after your birthday now).
I’d like to get something while there’s a return to be had on the $300,000 plus I poured into the program.
Way too simplistic published analysis, of course.
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