– Social Security will be broke by 2037 and Medicare by 2017. Those are today’s best guesses.  And, if our economic problems continue to worsen, which they show every sign of doing, then these figures will get worse and the time between now and when these systems go broke will get shorter.
– At 61 years old, it is conceivable that Social Security’s bankruptcy could impact me, but I doubt it.  And Medicare will be irrelevant to me because I will have been in New Zealand long before then.  But, my wife’s nine years younger than I am and my boys are 29 and 40 now.
– As Americans, the younger you are, the higher the likelihood that you will see and be impacted by the failures of these systems.  Congress has known about this problem for literally decades and they could not find the will to fix it in the good times.  What do you think the chances are that they are going to fix it in the midst of a recession?  Un-hum, that’s what I thought too.
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Report Also Warns Of Medicare Collapse
The financial health of the Social Security system has eroded more sharply in the past year than at any time since the mid-1990s, according to a government forecast that ratchets up pressure on the Obama administration and Congress to stabilize the retirement system that keeps many older Americans out of poverty.
The report, issued yesterday by the trustees who monitor the government’s two main forms of help for the elderly, shows that Medicare has become more fragile as well and is at greater risk than Social Security of imminent fiscal collapse. Starting eight years from now, the report says, the health insurance program will be unable to pay all its hospital bills.
The findings put a stark new face on the toll the recession has taken on the two enormous entitlement programs. They also intensify a political debate, gathering strength among Democrats and Republicans, over how quickly President Obama should tackle Social Security when health-care reform is his administration’s most urgent domestic priority.
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I particularly enjoyed the first 3 paragraphs of your post. It’s rather alarming at what rate these entitlement programs are collapsing. I don’t see a happy ending, but who knows. I agree with what you said, if the government didn’t fix things in the good times what makes us think they will (or even can) fix them in the rough times.
Thanks.