4 ms·
Social Security is just sending checks worth 3 or 4 percent of GDP to old people. It’s about the same as defense spending. Nobody ever worries about running out
by viburnum 8y ago
Social Security is just sending checks worth 3 or 4 percent of GDP to old people. It’s about the same as defense spending. Nobody ever worries about running out of money for defense.
- nv-vn 8y agoSocial Security spending is >2x the military budget, making up one third(!!!) of the US federal spending every year [1]. It's also a system that is inherently growing in terms of payouts and shrinking in terms of pay-ins [2]. This might not be a big deal if it was just a normal tax, but the idea behind Social Security is that your Social Security tax contributions pay off the current payouts. So if the system continued to exist as it is now, the amount paid into the system would have to grow significantly to ever pay out this generation's Social Security and the pattern would likely worsen over time. [1] https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-budget-101/spending/ https://www.nationalpriorities.org/budget-basics/federal-bud... [2] https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/1950/ https://www.populationpyramid.net/united-states-of-america/1...