Entitled Selfishness: Good Newsweek article on the consquences of leaving SS as is..

[boefixepa]

This is one of those proplems without an easy answer. No matter what the government dis/does/or will do is going to hurt someone and make someone mad. Agghhh, am I glad I don't have to be the one to figure it out!

I want two things.

1.) That SS survies long enough to take care of my parents and my in-laws and
2.) That I can set aside enough for my own retirement that I don't have to worry about wether or not it's there when I retire.

I just look at the amount that is taken out of my check and think of it as sending it to my grandfater/ or parent. It's me paying to help support them. I know that if the system where to disappear....I'd still end up sending them something. Probably more! or having them come live with me.

I wish there was an easy answer....

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

but, birthrates declined after the baby boom, meaning at some point in the future there would be more retirees than workers and the system wouldn't function as it was intended (my taxes go to the government who turns around and mails them out to grandma). did they make any changes when birthrates went south? no. come up with a new system, or at least changes to the existing system? no.

I don't pretend to know the population statistics per demo so I won't embarass myself trying to quote them but I hear / read the above all the time.

do they really think there will be a time when there will be more people 65+ than there are 18 - 64 year olds living at the same time? I appreciate the amount of baby boomers out there but is it truly that many?

or is it that the ratio of pay ins to take outs will fall to an unmanageable point someday? that seems more reasonable to me.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by rexdart

do they really think there will be a time when there will be more people 65+ than there are 18 - 64 year olds living at the same time? I appreciate the amount of baby boomers out there but is it truly that many?

I seem to recall reading that 50% of all people who have ever lived past age 65 are alive today. The numbers really are staggering.

By 2040, 26% of the US population will be 60 or above, compared to 16% in 2000.