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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (224495)	3/16/2005 8:38:20 PM
From: i-node	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571685

Tim >> Why couldn't it be solved by cutting benefeits and putting a limitation on their future growth? Your point is taken and a good one. I think you could always cut benefits and increase taxes until benefits (per beneficiary) were nil and SS taxes (per taxpayer) were at confiscatory levels. But unless you can change some assumptions about population growth, you will reach a point where the growth in benefits cannot be covered by the growth in new workers. My statement was really a fundamental premise about pyramids -- i.e., no matter how you change the numbers, eventually, the payout demanded will exceed the ability to generate revenue, and the pyramid will collapse. I do think, as you suggest, certain limitations on benefits accompanied by tax increases can extend longevity of the program. But as long as population growth continues I think eventual collapse is inevitable. It could be that by doing as you've suggested you could buy some time. But the problem becomes very severe with the rate of improvement of medical care.