Should the age for social
security and Medicare be raised in order to take care of the deficit? Right now, anyone can retire and draw social
security at sixty-two, and receive Medicare at sixty-five. You say we have that right because we paid
into these entitlements (I don’t understand why they’re called entitlements)
for forty, fifty years, or more. We’re
still paying into Medicare every month as the money is being taken out of
social security checks from retirees.
I'm going to focus on social
security because this topic is too huge to talk about along with Medicare. Next week, I'll talk about Medicare. This topic causes a lot of ill will among
young and old, but it's got to be addressed.
Okay, here goes my feeble
attempt to throw some light on this subject to help everyone understand Social
Security. We all pay into social
security with our FICA taxes taken monthly, biweekly or weekly. This money goes into an interest bearing
trust fund. Social security has it's own
budget.
At one time the social
security trust fund had 2.6 trillion in it paid through payroll taxes. Since 1982 social security has had excesses
from $89 million to $190 million, all loaned to the government. By 2020, the government will be in debt to
social security by 3.1 trillion. Now,
that's huge.
By law, social security
surpluses must be loaned to the federal government, a requirement established
in the original Social Security act of 1935. (I didn't know that, did
you?) The federal government is legally
required to pay back this money to the social security program with interest,
and it supposedly has done so. (I would
like to see the records.) This money
becomes part of the national debt.
As of December 31,
2011 , the U.S. Government
owed $2, 679 billion to the trust fund (part of our national debt). This is the latest information I could
find. There is a lot of information out
there, and it's possible I missed something more recent.
Here are my information
sources: Social Security Trust Fund -
Forbes magazine contributor, Merrill Matthews - 7-13-11; Business Finance and
Law by Luann PothuisjeODell - a year ago; Just Facts, a resource for independent
thinkers by James D. Agresti and Stephen F. Cardone - January 27, 2011, revised
1-12-13. http://www.justfacts.com/socialsecurity.asp
I welcome all comments, but
there will be no attacks here. This is
the time for a healthy discussion on social security, and we all need to know
what is going on.
Thank you for joining in this
discussion, and I'll see you next Sunday.
Have a great week.
Sandra K. Marshall