"The US national debt, if one includes unfunded Social Security and Medicare obligations, is currently $56.4 trillion. That is 23 TIMES our 2008 federal tax revenues ($2.5 trillion)."
An estimated 77 million “baby boomers” (born between 1946 and 1961) will reach age 65 in the next 15 years. Unknown to most Americans, approximately 12 million are or were public sector employees. Virtually all public sector employees had/have pension plans allowing them to “retire” with as little as 20 years of service. Public sector employees began retiring in 1984, and virtually all could retire after 30 years of service, meaning that by 2011 the last public service “baby boomer” will have already retired and be receiving pension benefits. Since public sector workers can retire with as little as 20-25 years of service, those born AFTER 1961 (“Gen X”) began retiring in 1999, and their numbers will be added to the 65 million private sector baby-boomers who retire at age 65 on Social Security beginning in 2011. The recession has resulted in high levels of unemployment, reducing the amount of payroll taxes collected and forcing more people to file for early retirement, increasing the amount paid by Social Security. The impact of the fact that virtually all “baby boomer” public sector employees retired BEFORE 2011, to be joined by “Gen X” public sector retirees who began retiring in 1999, has created a financial burden on taxpayers that has not been recognized or disclosed by the federal government. The result is that the often-discussed Social Security “crisis” is actually significantly understated. The combined debt of the Social Security and Medicare programs is “seven times the size of the U.S. Economy and 10 times the size of the outstanding national debt,” says senior policy analyst Pamela Villarreal of the National Center for Policy Analysis. To the private sector worker, the unfunded liability is a two-edged sword. Congress will find itself “forced” to either dramatically increase taxes or reduce benefits, or both. In most cases, since the general disappearance of defined benefit pension plans in the private sector in the 1980s, private sector workers have come to rely on Social Security as their ONLY means of retirement survival. States, local governments or school boards guarantee most public sector retirement plans. Social Security is NOT guaranteed, and Congress will be tempted to reduce benefits. Congress is also already discussing “means testing” for Social Security eligibility, and is routinely increasing Medicare Part “B” premiums. Benefits for public sector retirees cannot be reduced, requiring ever-increasing taxation to support unsustainable levels of promised benefits. This will have a devastating impact on private sector workers who are currently retired, on “baby boomers” retiring in 2011 and thereafter, and on the private sector employers and employees who must pay taxes to support this.
Introduce the Guarantee the Solvency of Social Security Act and seek Congressional support for it.