>>
No I said it will get you all the way there.
Right. And I corrected you. It only gets you part way.
>> Raise the cap and Social Security would be good for 75 years.
This is not correct. If you ELIMINATED the cap altogether, right now -- you would extend the life of the program by about 20 years. It would get you part way there.
Yes and no, says Karen Smith, a senior fellow in the income and benefits policy center at the Urban Institute, a public policy think tank. Smith has spent the last 30 years developing models that predict the financial results of Social Security and other forms of taxation. She says that if the cap were removed altogether in 2016 and everyone paid what they pay now on all the income they made, this would be the outcome:
The trust fund reserves would be extended through 2055 (an additional 21 years).Money would accumulate quickly in the trust funds and it would earn significant interest over time.All workers would feel the pain of increased payroll taxes because employers would reduce wages across the board to compensate for their share of the increase.Raising the wage cap would reduce other federal income tax collections because people would earn less money. But overall -- adding together payroll and income taxes -- the government still would collect more.The impact of high earners paying more into Social Security would be mitigated by increases in Social Security payments to them after they retire.The only real answer, Smith says, is to raise the payroll tax on everybody -- high and low earners. "We aren't going to get to solvency without raising the payroll tax," she says. "The only other way to get to solvency is to lower benefits."
Koan, you have to understand at least a little math to really get this. It just isn't your thing.
>> As far as Medicare goes, it needs some fixing, but it can be fixed. I posted to someone recently imagine how far the six or 7 trillion that Bush wasted on two stupid wars and massive tax cuts for the rich could've gone toward fixing Medicare.
A stupid comment. The cost of those wars under Bush was in the area of 1.5 Trillion, which is NOTHING like the 40-50 Trillion necessary to make Medicare long-term solvent.
I just don't think you understand the concepts of business math and accounting well enough to discuss it. But if you had any gumption you'd recognize that you don't understand it and take the words of people who do.
Really, you shouldn't promote spending on these programs if you can't comprehend the essential, fairly simple budgetary structures of the programs. |
