Overlooked Electoral Issue
Nov. 8th, 2006 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feste_sylvainThis year is 2006. Senators are elected to six-year terms, so this most recent batch have their jobs until 2012.
The first of the infamous baby-boomer generation start taking Social Security in 2011. When this happens, Social Security revenues (that FICA slice out of your paycheck) will start being outstripped by Social Security outlays.
Fortunately, the Social Security Administration has a "trust fund", which it has been building since Reagan's reconfiguring of FICA taxes back in the early 1980s.
Unfortunately, the Social Security "trust fund" is a stack of T-bills. Treasury bills are paid out of general revenue. In other words, having a Social Security trust fund is exactly the same as not having a Social Security trust fund.
The most recent crop of Senators will be in office when this time bomb goes off, and frankly we have no idea how they'll deal with it. We have no idea whether they'll deal with it.
Gird your grid for a big one.
The first of the infamous baby-boomer generation start taking Social Security in 2011. When this happens, Social Security revenues (that FICA slice out of your paycheck) will start being outstripped by Social Security outlays.
Fortunately, the Social Security Administration has a "trust fund", which it has been building since Reagan's reconfiguring of FICA taxes back in the early 1980s.
Unfortunately, the Social Security "trust fund" is a stack of T-bills. Treasury bills are paid out of general revenue. In other words, having a Social Security trust fund is exactly the same as not having a Social Security trust fund.
The most recent crop of Senators will be in office when this time bomb goes off, and frankly we have no idea how they'll deal with it. We have no idea whether they'll deal with it.
Gird your grid for a big one.
