On Aug 16, 3:56*pm, "
wrote:
On Aug 15, 5:13*pm, "Steve B" wrote:





The problem today is that people retiring are getting
significantly more out of SS and Medicare than they
ever paid into it.

Methinks whoms spoketh doth not have the mathematic skills of a common
garden slug when it comes to compounded interest over a 50 year tyme cycle.

If said peasant were allowed to contribute confiscated earnings to even a
lowly (less than 5%) growth fund, they would have to liveth to be over 200
years old to collect all the accrued interest, and in some cases, they would
have to liveth centuries longer if they had invested in Intel or Starbucks
or Mattel or ..............

Where doth these dolts cometh from.

Oh, dopey me. *I forgetteth current outcome based education..............

Steve

Before you start calling people dolts, you should consider that
last time I checked one does not have the option of contributing
to a plan that earns 5% interest instead of social security and
medicare. *I'm not arguing that would not yield better results.
But it's not an option. *All the money currently being paid in is
*mostly going right back out to people receiving benefits.
That plus drawing down the reserves which will run out
for social security in 20 years and for medicare in about 7
years. * And a typical person is receiving more in benefits
than they paid in. *That gap was even worse in prior
decades, but there is still a large gap today.

Here's a WP article explaining it:

*http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...11/01/02/AR201....

Analysis illustrates big gap between Medicare taxes and benefits
*Network NewsX Profile

By Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar
Monday, January 3, 2011

You paid your Medicare taxes all those years and want your money's
worth: full benefits after you retire.

Nearly three out of five people said in a recent Associated Press-GfK
poll that people who paid into the system deserve their full benefits
- no cuts.

But an updated financial analysis shows that the amount workers have
paid does not come close to covering the full value of the medical
care they can expect to receive as retirees.

Consider an average-wage two-earner couple together earning $89,000 a
year. Upon retiring in 2011, they would have paid $114,000 in Medicare
payroll taxes during their careers. But they can expect to receive
medical services - including prescriptions and hospital care - worth
$355,000, or about three times what they put in.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

True in all parts of the world. Mostly because of inflation.
But also because people are living longer. Here in the UK, the plan
is to make them work longer .ie retire later.