The Heritage Foundation has put out an impressive looking chart showing that in 1960 the average person received $6.39 for each dollar they had to pay in Social Security taxes but that by 2013 the average person was receiving only 92 cents for each dollar of taxes and that by 2030 this will be down to only 84 cents. Wow! QED! Social Security is a bad deal!
However, if you look at the study that the chart is based on, you notice that it's for "hypothetical workers with specific work histories and longevity characteristics." If you look further, you notice that those hypothetical workers don't become disabled nor do they die early leaving survivors who receive benefits, nor, in fact, do they have spouses who receive benefits on their account either before or after their death. In other words, the study is misleading since it excludes dependent benefits, survivor benefits and disability benefits.
This just goes to show you that those old guys were getting welfare checks on the backs of BABY BOMMERS.
ReplyDeleteThe hypothetical worker who doesn't get disabled must be a Cylon Robot...
ReplyDeleteThe "hypothetical worker" they use is the VAST majority recepients. So when people are looking at what is likely to happen i doubt they are thinking they will be disabled or die early.
ReplyDeleteIt also overlooks the insurance aspect of social security -- many people pay life insurance premiums for years with nothing to show for it, except that they were covered if they died during that time period. These days, even for so-called whole life policies, which promised to be paid up after 30 years or so, life insurance companies are telling policyholders their cash value is zero (due to these most recent years of low return on investment. In other words, "we spent your premiums and there is nothing left." The insurance companies are increasing premiums astronomically to re-fund the cash value.
ReplyDeleteBottom line, assuming arguendo ROI were only 84 cents per dollar spent, that beats the insurance companies' ROI these days.