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Social Security: Fixing Before We Deplete It's Reserves

beebee
in Other Investing
Read how two economists want to bring it back from the brink.

In 1940, when the first checks rolled out, 6.8 percent of the nation was 65 or older. Today, 18 percent are over that particular hill. So many people living so long is causing some epic funding problems. In a recent policy brief, Andrew Biggs, a fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and an expert on Social Security reform, and John Shoven, a professor emeritus of economics and a senior fellow emeritus at SIEPR, laid out a partial solution—one they believe most people could get behind.
breaking-point

Comments

  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    Yes, well worth the time taken to read.

    Thanks, @bee.
  • CrashCrash
    I'll read it later, I promise. I got an answer already: remove the salary cap. And make the contributions from both employers and employees a truly PROGRESSIVE, sliding scale, by income. I like to wear the T-shirt I bought from the Bernie store: TAX THE RICH.
  • CrashCrash
    edited January 14
    ...I don't comprehend the "replacement percentage" stuff. And people should not have to work until 69, that's fecal in a rat-fart sort of way. I seem to recall it was Ray-guns who decided to keep the distinct ledger for SS, but to mix the existing balance available in together with the rest of the budget, and that's a big reason why this "crisis" exists, too. Then he proceeded to triple the deficit. And what just happened last July? The One Big Grotesquely Ugly Bill. In ten more years, the debt will be $7.1 Trillion. And how do you even COUNT that, ever? And what is the ratio between that number and GDP? (I recall when the standard was GNP). TAX THE RICH. How much crap can you buy? How will some of those people even find the time to SPEND their disposable income? Here's a great idea: let's rediscover the concept of the COMMON GOOD. Alas, what happened last July tells me it is completely dead and buried.
  • Old_JoeOld_Joe
    You probably should read @bee's link... there are some complex factors that defy just a couple of quick and dirty "fixes".
  • CrashCrash
    Old_Joe said:

    You probably should read @bee's link... there are some complex factors that defy just a couple of quick and dirty "fixes".

    I just did.:)
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