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The Spectacle Blog

Trustees Say Entitlement Crisis to Hit Sooner Than Expected

By Philip Klein on 5.12.09 @ 3:49PM

The Social Security Board of Trustees releasted its latest report on the health of the Social Security system, and has projected that the cost of benefits will exceed payroll tax revenues in 2016 -- a year sooner than last year's report.

If that isn't depressing enough, "Medicare's financial status is much worse," the Trustees conclude. "As was true in 2008, Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund is expected to pay out more in hospital benefits and other expenditures this year than it receives in taxes and other dedicated revenues. The difference will be made up by redeeming trust fund assets. Growing annual deficits are projected to exhaust HI reserves in 2017..."

This is the financial time bomb on top of which Obama has signed or proposed trillions in new spending, including pushing for national health care, the cost of which is likely to be around $1.5 trillion over the next ten years.

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Attract Prosperity| 5.13.09 @ 9:11AM

The lesson here is that it's up to you to make enough money to be very comfortable. If you let government of anybody else determine your financial future than you are at their mercy.

Some people feel that it's not fair that you've invested in these program and now you don't reap the returns. We've all made hundreds of bad investments in one way, shape or form but we ultimately move on from them.

If you have a job, don't get another job. Invest. Start a small business. Open up multiple streams of income and acquire your own wealth so that you don't have to rely on government.

Ryan