« Will Baby Boomers Bankrupt Social Security? »

As the record federal budget deficit draws increasing scrutiny from Washington to Wall Street to Main Street, deficit hawks may take aim at entitlement programs including Social Security.  “We won’t have a crisis,” says Michael Astrue, commissioner of the Social Security Administration. “2037 is a long way off and there is no reason to panic, but this is a serious issue we need to resolve. Younger people tend to overreact.”

“Ever since we Gen-X/Yers began working, we've paid 12.4 percent of our earnings to Social Security,” he wrote. “In contrast, the Boomers will get a bargain. When they entered the workforce in the late 1960s, they paid only 6.5 percent of their earnings to Social Security. Only from 1990 on, when the Boomers had earned paychecks for a quarter-century, did they start paying 12.4 percent to Social Security, the same percentage we Gen-X/Yers have paid our whole lives.”  That’s why Firey dubbed it The Boomers’ Bargain: “They've paid less of their earnings into Social Security than we Gen-X/Yers, yet they'll receive more in benefits than we will and we'll pick up the tab.”

Comments

[Anon]

Yes, SS is bankrupt, but you can hardly blame the baby boomers. The blame is on the government, who has mis-managed and squandered the SS fund. They couldn't stand to see all that money just sitting there, so they spent it and now it's gone and we will all suffer for it. Don't blame the people who had no ability to influence the bad decisions!

[S. Gompers]

Ah but the mighty hand of Goobermint has been guided by the babyboomers with every election of their adult lives. Everyone knew they were raiding S.S., but they continued re electing their blessed officials anyway.

It is ironic that their sacred cow will be slaughtered by their own hand. Babyboomers have lived their entire lives as canabals, feeding on the souls of the young...