Insolvency looms for federal entitlement programs, government warns ("TurboTaxCheatTimmy" says)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 5/13/11 | Noam N. Levey

[NormsRevenge]

Caught in the sluggish recovery from the last recession, Social Security and Medicare face an increasingly dismal fiscal future, the federal government reported Friday in its annual review of the two mammoth entitlement programs.

Medicare, which now provides health insurance to some 47 million elderly and disabled Americans, could begin running a deficit in 2024, five years earlier than projected last year.

And Social Security, which last year began paying out more in benefits than it collected in taxes, now faces insolvency in 2036, compared to 2037 in last year’s projections.

Over the years, the Social Security and Medicare trustees have produced widely varying assessments of the financial health of the two programs, as the nation’s economy has moved through periods of growth and stagnation.

But the latest estimates by the trustees are expected to intensify pressure on both parties in Washington to move forcefully to shore up the two programs.

"We should not wait for the trust funds to be exhausted to make the reforms necessary to protect our current and future retirees," said Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, who chairs the board of trustees.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

Or if the recovery was as good as they wished, everything would be okay.

[MontaniSemperLiberi]

“Just because it’s now paying more than it’s taking does not make it insolvent. The fact that the “lockbox” had been “picked” was robbed and left with nothing inside is what makes it insolvent.”

There never could have been a lock box filled with mowed lawns and presents for the grand babies. Those goods have to be produced in the year they are consumed.

[SkyPilot]

Let me guess... they’re out of money for those of us who paid into it all our lives, but can still afford to pay for: Welfare, Food Stamps, WIC, ADIC, Section 8 housing, heating assistance, free cell phones, free internet, free bus passes, etc., etc.

That's about it.

There is also a massive racial bias involved in all levels of our government (federal, state, local).

Here in NJ, the majority white suburbs have been paying double their property taxes for the last 26 years, so that urban black districts get incredible amounts of education funding without their residents paying for it.

It is called the "Abott Decision" and the NJ courts hung this albatross around the necks of the suburbs.

A NJ Senator (a Democrat!) proposed following the NJ Constitution (which stipulates education will be "equal") and spend the same on every student in NJ across the board.

So, for instance, if Camden or Newark NJ spends $32,000 per student, a student in Moorestown only gets $17,000, but that students parents property taxes are astronomical so that the kids in Camden or Newark get better facilities, tutors, and just about anything else those districts want - without the taxes on them!

Well, as soon as this was floated, out came this:

Or governments will NEVER cut Section 8 housing, "job training", welfare, food stamps, etc. A greater percentage of the black and Hispanic population takes from those programs as a much greater percentage than whites.

And this will continue. If some white couple doesn't get their Medicare or Social Security, so be it so we can continue with welfare.

[SkyPilot]

I’m also an RN. And I have seen SOOOOO many people on Medicaire who I cannot imagine have been in this country longer than 5 or 10 years. Too many are taking from it now who never paid a thing into it. Medicaid? That’s totally being sucked dry by illegals.

Amen to your truthful comments.

[Lancey Howard]

Let me guess... they’re out of money for those of us who paid into it all our lives, but can still afford to pay for: Welfare, Food Stamps, WIC, ADIC, Section 8 housing, heating assistance, free cell phones, free internet, free bus passes, etc., etc.

Wow... We are on exactly the same page!

But beware - - even around here at FR there are a handful of mice who think "means testing" is the answer. As far as I'm concerned, only AFTER the bums, deadbeats, and parasites who comprise the Democrat party "base" have been cut off, THEN maybe there can be talk about trimming "entitlements" for the people who have been paying the freight for those bums, deadbeats, and parasites their entire lives. Not one minute before.

Meanwhile...

CONFIRMED:
One in 19 Americans today gets SSDI or SSI. That's one in 19 Americans who are "disabled."

[HeartlandOfAmerica]

move forcefully to shore up the two programs.

This is the frickin problem. So many of these pols are working to shore up the problem that nobody's spending any time to FIX it.

They've dug us in so deep that it'll take DECADES of NO entitlement programs to fix this fiasco.

Figure to even break even, they'd have to cut 1.5 trillion EVERY YEAR, NOT EVERY 10 YEARS. And to make any headway, they'd have to cut 2.5 trillion to break even, pay off the deficit on a yearly basis and have .5 trillion left to start paying down the debt. and .5 trillion 15 ways is about 30 years at severe cuts to get that 15 trillion acknowledged debt cleared up, then about 50 years more to get the unfunded mandates like SS and Medicare taken care of.

This problem will NEVER be taken care of. The pols and Dems have run the most prosperous country the worlds ever seen, straight into the ground and nothing can fix it.

And if you think that the Republicans are likely to do this any faster than the Democrats are, you're crazy.

[Atlas Sneezed]

“Uhhh, I’ve done the hard work, and have fixed Social Security!” [wild applause] “Here’s how it will work: starting immediately, anyone who has reached the age of 129 1/2 will be able to collect full benefits!”

---

Uh, floating the retirement age (even to 75 or 80) to ensure annual solvency sure beats bankrupting and destroying the nation.

When will people realize that 30-40 years of retirement funded by current workers just won’t work?

You want a long retirement while you have decades of health to enjoy? Save your (own) pennies!

[Atlas Sneezed]

Cool. Gimme my money back with no interest. Right now. Same with Medicare. I will gladly fend for myself.

---

“Your” money was stolen. Don’t steam mine.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Maybe like we all agree that leaving socialist states destined for bankruptcy makes sense, leaving socialist nations is similar.

I’m getting ready.

[Carry_Okie]

I don’t have as much a problem taking care of the elderly, as I do paying out welfare to the able bodied.

Do you think the aged could be helping children learn to read? I do.

You are dead wrong in terms of cash flow; welfare as a percentage of your total tax burden pales compared to Social Security and MediCare. The reason is actuarial. We simply must raise the retirement age.

[GOPJ]

Anyone know what percentage of Detroit is on Social Security Disability?

Drug addicts can start collecting Social Security Disability in their 20's... If they live to be 90 - that's seventy years of monthly checks. Adds up.

[PLMerite]

“Uh, floating the retirement age (even to 75 or 80) to ensure annual solvency sure beats bankrupting and destroying the nation.”

I’ve always wondered, what exactly the he!! kind of work does anyone expect a 75- or 80-year-old to actually do ?

[Hoodat]

And Social Security, which last year began paying out more in benefits than it collected in taxes, now faces insolvency in 2036, compared to 2037 in last year’s projections.

Are these people really that dense? If it is now paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, then it is insolvent right NOW.

[okie01]

Are these people really that dense? If it is now paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes, then it is insolvent right NOW.

No, social security is not insolvent...yet. Instead, the fund merely has a negative cash flow right now.

Remember, the social security fund has all of those government IOUs in the bank. And it can live off of those for the next 25 years before it becomes insolvent...

< /s>

[Eric Blair 2084]

You are right. There aren’t enough young worker bees to pay for you when you or me when we are a grandpa and grandma to sit around and get a gubmint check.

Demographics don’t support the theory. The milions of taxpaying citizens who were supposed to pay FICA and FUTA taxes were aborted and killed in the womb. We need to import 3rd world illegals to replace them.

At least my parents and uncles are collecting. I won’t see dime one.

[caww]

Yes they are...but I doubt the Gov. will do much other than keep kicking that can down the road. Oh they’ll talk the talk, and use it to scare and threaten with, but they’ll never stop it. The outcry of the citizens would be earthshattering to say the least. They’ll simply devise a “plan” to continue with it. Like robbing peoples 401K by presenting a “deal” the people simply can’t refuse.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I’ve always wondered, what exactly the he!! kind of work does anyone expect a 75- or 80-year-old to actually do ?

---

Same stuff the folks did at 65 right before they died when the socialist program started.

Unless you prefer to save your own money for your own retirement leisure, instead if enslaving the next generation in a Ponzi scheme.

[KTM rider]

there is no social security fund

it cant run out because it does not exist

correct me if i'm wrong but I thought social security pays out from the general fund not a trust fund as the article suggests , sound like propaganda to make people believe they have a reason to start denying socialist benefits to the taxslave class

[johnthebaptistmoore]

What’s new? If all of the entitlement plans were fully privatized, instead, and not controlled by the government, then things would be very different, for the long-term survival of all of the entitlement programs.

[BooBoo1000]

Not so if the Government had invested the money I paid in for just $4% interest in a bank or savings loan, I would have had over $ 1,000,000 in my account at age 65. I was robbed.