On Mon, 3 Aug 2015 12:58:46 -0700 (PDT), "
wrote:

On Monday, August 3, 2015 at 3:15:48 PM UTC-4, Ed Huntress wrote:


There are good explanations of how it works in various places,
including the SSA. Basically, it's never changed. It's the way most
pensions work, too, whether they're government or private-industry
accounts.

Congress changed the system for the U.S. Postal Service, and damned
near drove them broke. Nobody can pay for a whole generation ahead.

--
Ed Huntress

Bull****. Private industry is required to make payments into a pension account.
And this money is invested so that it increases. The government does not have any investments.


Ah, right, I was thinking about the plan my dad was invested in, with
Sears, which put 100% of it into Sears stock. That was before ERISA
outlawed the practice, and it was common with very large companies.

The "money" didn't exist. Sears had the money as part of its equity.
The value of the stock depended on the success of Sears, like the
value of Treasury bonds depends on the success of the US economy.

--
Ed Huntress