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Technology Stocks : Semi Equipment Analysis -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: FJB who wrote (56653)	6/22/2012 11:20:20 PM
From: Sam	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 95411

OT-- Robert, we've been through this before. First, the unfunded liabilities of SS and Medicare will come due over a period of several decades. I think that the actuaries use a period of 75 years to come out with a figure for these things. Second, I don't know where you get the $100t number. Even Tom Coburn--far from a left wing liberal--uses $36.8t as the number for Medicare (computed in 2011)-- "$36.8 trillion—Medicare’s long-term unfunded liability." cf coburn.senate.gov And remember--that is over a period 7.5 decades. Certainly not a number to sneeze at or disregard. But not nearly as alarming as $100t. And the SS liability is much less than Medicare. Third, you are assuming that nothing will be done. But something will be done about it. I don't know what or when, but this congressional logjam won't last forever, even if it sometimes feels like it will. This isn't to say that it isn't a serious problem. It clearly would have been much, much easier to have dealt with it back in 2000-01. But it will be dealt with sometime in the next few years. Bowles-Simpson pointed to a way. Many politicians on both sides of the aisle have disavowed it publicly, but that is for the most part public posturing. JMHO.