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There won't be any Social Security when you are 62. The system is a ponzi scheme that will collapse with the boomer retirements.

newfoundglory 9y ago
This doesn't seem like an evidence-based opinion.
dragonwriter 9y ago
> There won't be any Social Security when you are 62. Unless political opponents use this exact kind of scaremongering to push a repeal, yes, there will. > The system is a ponzi scheme It's not, though it's failure mode is a sustainable analog of one. > that will collapse with the boomer retirements. No, it won't. The projection is that the Trust Fund would be exhausted, which would reduce SS to paying benefits exclusively out of current payroll tax revenues, this would reduce benefits below full benefits, but would not collapse the system.
AnimalMuppet 9y ago
I don't know. I thought that when I was in my 30s and 40s. I'm 56 now, and it looks like there might actually be something by the time I get there. Would I count on it if I were 30? No. I don't count on it for myself, either. But I was more cynical than has been warranted (so far).
- busterarm 9y ago
  I'm going to make a bold statement and say that it's highly likely that I'm among the most pessimistic people _on earth_. That said, the idea that the government (any government) is going to tell about one hundred million people that they've been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars into something their entire working lives that will give them nothing in return seems beyond ludicrous to me. That's a recipe for disaster. The violent kind. Human nature's need to maintain the status quo for as long as possible definitely applies here. I'm in my 30s and I won't start worrying until the government starts massively scaling back what we pay _into_ the social security system. If that even happens before I'm retired. Basically, I sneer and laugh at anyone who says Social Security won't be around in the near-term.
  - ryandrake 9y ago
    Yep, as long as old people continue to massively out-vote young people, Social Security has zero chance of going away or becoming privatized (which is essentially the same as it going away).

newfoundglory 9y ago

This doesn't seem like an evidence-based opinion.

dragonwriter 9y ago

> There won't be any Social Security when you are 62. Unless political opponents use this exact kind of scaremongering to push a repeal, yes, there will. > The system is a ponzi scheme It's not, though it's failure mode is a sustainable analog of one. > that will collapse with the boomer retirements. No, it won't. The projection is that the Trust Fund would be exhausted, which would reduce SS to paying benefits exclusively out of current payroll tax revenues, this would reduce benefits below full benefits, but would not collapse the system.

AnimalMuppet 9y ago

I don't know. I thought that when I was in my 30s and 40s. I'm 56 now, and it looks like there might actually be something by the time I get there. Would I count on it if I were 30? No. I don't count on it for myself, either. But I was more cynical than has been warranted (so far).

busterarm 9y ago
I'm going to make a bold statement and say that it's highly likely that I'm among the most pessimistic people _on earth_. That said, the idea that the government (any government) is going to tell about one hundred million people that they've been paying hundreds of thousands of dollars into something their entire working lives that will give them nothing in return seems beyond ludicrous to me. That's a recipe for disaster. The violent kind. Human nature's need to maintain the status quo for as long as possible definitely applies here. I'm in my 30s and I won't start worrying until the government starts massively scaling back what we pay _into_ the social security system. If that even happens before I'm retired. Basically, I sneer and laugh at anyone who says Social Security won't be around in the near-term.
- ryandrake 9y ago
  Yep, as long as old people continue to massively out-vote young people, Social Security has zero chance of going away or becoming privatized (which is essentially the same as it going away).