• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

The results are in on social security

Donc

DP Veteran
Joined
Sep 16, 2007
Messages
9,796
Reaction score
2,590
Location
out yonder
Gender
Male
Political Leaning
Slightly Liberal
Kinda looks like all the doom and gloom was for naught as for as Social Security was concerned.:2wave:

THE RESULTS ARE IN ON SOCIAL SECURITY

Do you ever worry that Social Security might not be there for you when you need it? On May 13, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund released their annual report that affirmatively answers that question: yes, Social Security is alive and well. Below you will find some highlights from the Trustee’s report and important facts about Social Security:

Amount of annual surplus in 2011: $69 billion

Projected Trust Fund Balance for 2011: $2.7 trillion

Number of years Social Security is projected to be able to pay full benefits, without any shortfall: 25 years

Cost of administering Social Security as percentage of total expenditures: 0.9%

Average monthly Social Security benefit received by retired Americans: $1,164

Drop in value of private retirement accounts during the Great Recession: $2.8 trillion

Drop in value of Social Security benefits during the Great Recession: $0

Number of recessions Social Security has weathered without failing to pay benefits: 13

Number of times Social Security has failed to pay an earned benefit: 0

In response to the Trustee’s report Rep. Becerra, the highest ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, said: “Today’s report confirms what we already know: Social Security will weather the storm once again. You simply can’t buy the kind of retirement, disability and life-insurance protection on the private market that Social Security provides.”

The Becerra Bulletin, May 2011
 
:lamo

no, you can buy much better plans. as I have consistently demonstrated. as for this report?

Amount of annual surplus in 2011: $69 billion

2011 is not over. given that SS ran deficits last year and the CBO estimates those deficits will only continue to grow every year from here on out, I wouldn't be dancing over this.

Projected Trust Fund Balance for 2011: $2.7 trillion

:lol: yeah, and so long as the General Budget produces a surplus of $2.7 Trillion, they'll get it, too. :mrgreen: because I don't know about you, but if there is one thing I see happening any day now, it's us not only balancing the budget, but producing a $2.7 Trillion surplus.

Number of years Social Security is projected to be able to pay full benefits, without any shortfall: 25 years

:D assuming of course that that $2.7 Trillion surplus comes through, which will necessitate there being no such thing as Medicare. If we are running a deficit, however, and if there is such a thing as Medicare.... well then not so much. ;)

Cost of administering Social Security as percentage of total expenditures: 0.9%

Average monthly Social Security benefit received by retired Americans: $1,164

Drop in value of private retirement accounts during the Great Recession: $2.8 trillion

and (again) as I have demonstrated now ad nauseum, those private accounts still outperform Social Security even in a worst case scenario by more than double.

Drop in value of Social Security benefits during the Great Recession: $0

so long as you don't keep it in real dollars. because food, medicine, and energy aren't things that old people buy.

Number of recessions Social Security has weathered without failing to pay benefits: 13

Number of times Social Security has failed to pay an earned benefit: 0

true, thanks to the law Social Security running a deficit (as she has and will continue to do) simply draws from the General Fund.
 
Kinda looks like all the doom and gloom was for naught as for as Social Security was concerned.:2wave:

THE RESULTS ARE IN ON SOCIAL SECURITY

Do you ever worry that Social Security might not be there for you when you need it? On May 13, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund released their annual report that affirmatively answers that question: yes, Social Security is alive and well. Below you will find some highlights from the Trustee’s report and important facts about Social Security:

Amount of annual surplus in 2011: $69 billion

Projected Trust Fund Balance for 2011: $2.7 trillion

Number of years Social Security is projected to be able to pay full benefits, without any shortfall: 25 years

Cost of administering Social Security as percentage of total expenditures: 0.9%

Average monthly Social Security benefit received by retired Americans: $1,164

Drop in value of private retirement accounts during the Great Recession: $2.8 trillion

Drop in value of Social Security benefits during the Great Recession: $0

Number of recessions Social Security has weathered without failing to pay benefits: 13

Number of times Social Security has failed to pay an earned benefit: 0

In response to the Trustee’s report Rep. Becerra, the highest ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, said: “Today’s report confirms what we already know: Social Security will weather the storm once again. You simply can’t buy the kind of retirement, disability and life-insurance protection on the private market that Social Security provides.”

The Becerra Bulletin, May 2011

So cpwill will be supporting me in my old age after all. That's rather comforting.
 
So cpwill will be supporting me in my old age after all. That's rather comforting.

I think the jarhead(any lurking mods…jarhead, in this case is used as a term of endearment) on the rock,Is hoping that the repubs in congress DON’T raise the debt ceiling and the country goes into default. Viola!!! We skate out from under the countries obligation we made to our seniors.:2wave:
 
Kinda looks like all the doom and gloom was for naught as for as Social Security was concerned.:2wave:

THE RESULTS ARE IN ON SOCIAL SECURITY

Do you ever worry that Social Security might not be there for you when you need it? On May 13, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund released their annual report that affirmatively answers that question: yes, Social Security is alive and well. Below you will find some highlights from the Trustee’s report and important facts about Social Security:

Amount of annual surplus in 2011: $69 billion

Projected Trust Fund Balance for 2011: $2.7 trillion

Number of years Social Security is projected to be able to pay full benefits, without any shortfall: 25 years

Cost of administering Social Security as percentage of total expenditures: 0.9%

Average monthly Social Security benefit received by retired Americans: $1,164

Drop in value of private retirement accounts during the Great Recession: $2.8 trillion

Drop in value of Social Security benefits during the Great Recession: $0

Number of recessions Social Security has weathered without failing to pay benefits: 13

Number of times Social Security has failed to pay an earned benefit: 0

In response to the Trustee’s report Rep. Becerra, the highest ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, said: “Today’s report confirms what we already know: Social Security will weather the storm once again. You simply can’t buy the kind of retirement, disability and life-insurance protection on the private market that Social Security provides.”

The Becerra Bulletin, May 2011

69 billion surplus in 2011? Really?

Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs: A SUMMARY OF THE 2011 ANNUAL REPORTS
Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative modifications if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided.

The long-run financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare should be addressed soon. If action is taken sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that those affected have adequate time to prepare. Earlier action will also afford elected officials with a greater opportunity to minimize adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and those who are already substantially dependent on program benefits.

The $49 billion deficit last year (excluding interest income) and $46 billion projected deficit in 2011 are in large part due to the weakened economy and to downward income adjustments that correct for excess payroll tax revenue credited to the trust funds in earlier years.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.....
 
Trustees Report Summary

Conclusion

Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative corrections if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided.

The financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare should be addressed soon. If action is taken sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that those affected can adequately prepare.

What is the Outlook for Short-Term Trust Fund Adequacy? The reports measure the short-range adequacy of the OASI, DI, and HI Trust Funds by comparing fund assets to projected costs for the ensuing year (the "trust fund ratio"). A trust fund ratio of 100 percent or more -- that is, assets at least equal to projected costs for a year -- is a good indicator of a fund’s short-range adequacy. That level of projected assets for any year means that even if cost exceeds income, the trust fund reserves, combined with annual tax revenues, would be sufficient to pay full benefits for several years.

By this measure, the OASI Trust Fund is financially adequate throughout the 2011-20 period, but the DI Trust Fund fails the short-range test because its projected trust fund ratio falls to 90 percent by the beginning of 2013, followed by exhaustion of assets in 2018. Furthermore, despite the increasing nominal value of the OASI and combined OASDI trust funds throughout the short-range period, both the OASI and DI trust fund ratios -- indicators of the duration of continuing benefit payments that the trust funds could finance out of current assets -- will continue to decline from 2011 forward.

The HI Trust Fund also does not meet the short-range test of financial adequacy; its projected trust fund ratio falls to 86 percent by the beginning of 2012. Projected HI Trust Fund assets are fully depleted in 2024.

and the kicker...
The projected actuarial deficit in each of these programs is large enough that continued solvency under current-law financing is extremely unlikely. A supplementary analysis that allows plausible random variations from the intermediate assumptions employed in the report indicates that OASDI trust fund exhaustion is highly probable by mid-century.
 
thanks for that report donc. great news indeed.

I cannot help but some here and elsewhere on the right have simply always hated the idea of any type of government social security program and are doing their best to pretend they are Chicken Little and telling the world that the sky is falling.

I can think of no other single way to undermine the average persons faith in government as an important American institution that to destroy social security. Perhaps for the anti-government crowd and even some of the small government crowd that is their goal.
 
so, since it'll be 25 years before it fails utterly... let's just wait until then to do anything about it. :rolleyes:

Right Dems/Libs???
 
thanks for that report donc. great news indeed.

I cannot help but some here and elsewhere on the right have simply always hated the idea of any type of government social security program and are doing their best to pretend they are Chicken Little and telling the world that the sky is falling.

I can think of no other single way to undermine the average persons faith in government as an important American institution that to destroy social security. Perhaps for the anti-government crowd and even some of the small government crowd that is their goal.

yeah... great news that Dems/Libs want to sity on their collective asses for the next 25 years until SSI fails utterly. :rolleyes:
 
yeah... great news that Dems/Libs want to sity on their collective asses for the next 25 years until SSI fails utterly. :rolleyes:

Most progressives that I have talked to want some significant done about this to prevent a 25 year problem. At the top of the list is to pop the cap on the $106K limit for FICA taxes while freezing benefits to todays levels plus a modest inflation allowance increase. Your characterization is not accurate.
 
Let's see... When it started the recipients paid nothing.
In 1950 there were 16 people paying for every recipient.
Today it is 3.
Baby Boomers started retiring this year.

This is a Ponzi/Madoff Scheme that is going to go bust.

This system looks to be in good shape even beyond 2012. Unfortunately, in 2016, it will start to deteriorate. At that time, the program’s expenses will begin to exceed its revenues. One cause of this is the aging of the “Baby Boomer” population, in which a great many retirees will become eligible for benefits at the same time. This generation is also expected to live longer than previous ones, resulting in the need for continued benefits.

Will Social Security Really Fail after 2012? Part 1 - S. Kay Dansby Social Security Disability Law Blog on Lawyers.com
Reality is a pisser.
Welcome to reality.

I hope you aren't banking on government to be there for you. If so... get used to asking... paper or plastic?

Haymarket... are you a "progressive"?

.
 
Last edited:
so, since it'll be 25 years before it fails utterly... let's just wait until then to do anything about it. :rolleyes:

Right Dems/Libs???

No, but let's not panic and leap off any ledges either. ;)
 
Zimmer asks

Haymarket... are you a "progressive"?

Questions such as that have long ago been answered.



"I am, have been, and will be only one thing - an American."
- Charles Foster Kane
 
so, since it'll be 25 years before it fails utterly... let's just wait until then to do anything about it. :rolleyes:

Right Dems/Libs???

Just raise the limit, that's what President Reagan did in 1983.
 
Kinda looks like all the doom and gloom was for naught as for as Social Security was concerned.:2wave:

THE RESULTS ARE IN ON SOCIAL SECURITY

Do you ever worry that Social Security might not be there for you when you need it? On May 13, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund released their annual report that affirmatively answers that question: yes, Social Security is alive and well. Below you will find some highlights from the Trustee’s report and important facts about Social Security:

Amount of annual surplus in 2011: $69 billion

Projected Trust Fund Balance for 2011: $2.7 trillion

Number of years Social Security is projected to be able to pay full benefits, without any shortfall: 25 years

Cost of administering Social Security as percentage of total expenditures: 0.9%

Average monthly Social Security benefit received by retired Americans: $1,164

Drop in value of private retirement accounts during the Great Recession: $2.8 trillion

Drop in value of Social Security benefits during the Great Recession: $0

Number of recessions Social Security has weathered without failing to pay benefits: 13

Number of times Social Security has failed to pay an earned benefit: 0

In response to the Trustee’s report Rep. Becerra, the highest ranking Democrat on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security, said: “Today’s report confirms what we already know: Social Security will weather the storm once again. You simply can’t buy the kind of retirement, disability and life-insurance protection on the private market that Social Security provides.”

The Becerra Bulletin, May 2011

No - I don't worry that it won't be there when "I need it"

I know it won't be there "when I need it"

So I'm making alternative plans and arrangements.
 
Kinda looks like all the doom and gloom was for naught as for as Social Security was concerned.:2wave:

THE RESULTS ARE IN ON SOCIAL SECURITY


Amount of annual surplus in 2011: $69 billion

Projected Trust Fund Balance for 2011: $2.7 trillion

Can we see the money please? What? There *is* no money? IOUs? Aha. So it is a Ponzi scheme after all? Darn.
 
A quandary: I reread the article to see if this addresses this: is this issue in regard ONLY to the state-funded support? Is federal funding for these same people still available?

I know every state is different - but in my state it's one or the other - or both in some percentage. If the satte denies, you can still possibly get federal - vice versa.

So - does this $15 / $25 funding from the state that's ending just deduct from the overall amount - so netting just a reduction? Or is this the ONLY form of support for all these people? If so - how do they pay for the rest of their food?
 
Last edited:
assets.gif


incomeoutgo.gif





I don't pretend to be an accountant, as a mater of fact It’s difficult for me to keep my check book balanced but these two graphs from SS sure don't look to me like were in as bad a shape as the wingers are claiming.

First graph says the trust fund is $2.6 trillion to the good as of 2010.The second graph says that even in the depts of the bush great recession, SS managed to make a couple of bucks.


Using a famous Fox news source “some say“that its all a ponzi scheme.True.. it could be but the same ponzi scheme seems to be working for financing two and a half wars, with Chinese money/Saudi/wherever we can mooch a buck.

So your all clamoring to yank the rug out from under hard working American citizens that have paid into a system that they have worked for about forty years eh?:(
 
assets.gif


incomeoutgo.gif





I don't pretend to be an accountant, as a mater of fact It’s difficult for me to keep my check book balanced but these two graphs from SS sure don't look to me like were in as bad a shape as the wingers are claiming.

First graph says the trust fund is $2.6 trillion to the good as of 2010.The second graph says that even in the depts of the bush great recession, SS managed to make a couple of bucks.


Using a famous Fox news source “some say“that its all a ponzi scheme.True.. it could be but the same ponzi scheme seems to be working for financing two and a half wars, with Chinese money/Saudi/wherever we can mooch a buck.

So your all clamoring to yank the rug out from under hard working American citizens that have paid into a system that they have worked for about forty years eh?:(

the system, however, was never intended to be perpetual - they just didn't care about that in the beginning. They just ditched that problem off on the future . . . and the future is nigh.

I don't get how people - ever- have thought that SS would be enough to live on. I never was told this, I was told that it's supplemental and that's about it - always ALWAYS plan on supporting yourself.

Why, then, are the majority of people uninformed of this?

I get those occasional SS statements to say how much my potential payments will be in the future - and it's laughable. The government might as well keep it.
 
Last edited:
QUOTE Aunt Spiker;

the system, however, was never intended to be perpetual - they just didn't care about that in the beginning.

So you OK with welching on the debts of American seniors as apposed to the ChiComs and the bankers of 911?
 
so, since it'll be 25 years before it fails utterly... let's just wait until then to do anything about it. :rolleyes:

Right Dems/Libs???

How about end of life counseling? You know, so we don't keep people alive on machines because they never left any instructions...

I think the brilliant stateswoman former ex-Gov of a welfare state call them 'Death Panels'. And that statement was ranked the #1 lie of the year.

So, you see, the Dems tried to do something about the cost of public health care for the elderly. Something very sensible, something pragmatic and compassionate, helping people to make informed decisions about their own health care.

But the GOP put a stop to that nonsense...

Thanks GOP.
 
Back
Top Bottom