Comments on: Guest Column: How to save Social Security 101 http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/07/03/guest-column-how-to-save-social-security-101/ The Rock River Times - THE VOICE OF THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1993 Thu, 23 May 2013 03:48:46 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Joe The Economist http://rockrivertimes.com/2012/07/03/guest-column-how-to-save-social-security-101/comment-page-1/#comment-5814 Joe The Economist Tue, 03 Jul 2012 18:43:33 +0000 http://rockrivertimes.com/?p=38642#comment-5814 "call it an “entitlement” when the truth is that Social Security is a pre-paid insurance program." This is factually incorrect. Social Security is a pay-go system where very little if anything is pre-paid. Source SSA In 1983, Social Security was insolvent so it had not a single penny of pre-payment and more than 40 years of promises to fulfill. Today the system has a 20.5 trillion dollar shortfall. Source SSA There is no study which supports the idea of removing workers from the work force as helping Social Security. It would put more strain on the system, and there is no guarantee that these jobs will be replaced or need to be replaced. As workers retire, they will spend less. This is lower demand for goods and services. For the records, payroll taxes are 15.3%, 13.3% with the holiday. Of that 2.9% is HI, 1.8% is DI, so I am asking where did you get 5.65? “call it an “entitlement” when the truth is that Social Security is a pre-paid insurance program.”

This is factually incorrect. Social Security is a pay-go system where very little if anything is pre-paid. Source SSA

In 1983, Social Security was insolvent so it had not a single penny of pre-payment and more than 40 years of promises to fulfill. Today the system has a 20.5 trillion dollar shortfall. Source SSA

There is no study which supports the idea of removing workers from the work force as helping Social Security. It would put more strain on the system, and there is no guarantee that these jobs will be replaced or need to be replaced. As workers retire, they will spend less. This is lower demand for goods and services.

For the records, payroll taxes are 15.3%, 13.3% with the holiday. Of that 2.9% is HI, 1.8% is DI, so I am asking where did you get 5.65?

]]>