The Generations within the Social Security Crisis
The Presidential election will be coming up this November and the question that many of
Americans have on their mind is what are you going to about the Social Security crisis?
This question has our nation divided between generations. The elder people of our nation
(ages 50 and up) fell confident that Social Security will be there for them and that it
should be left alone. On the other hand the Baby Boomers (ages 31-49) and Generation X
(ages 18-30) lack this confidence fearing that they will never receive Social Security,
and the money they put in would be a waste. Many politicians are afraid to touch this
issue because the elder still make a large number of the voting block. Speaking as a
member it is our duty to vote for change in Social Security to ensure we will have
something to look forward to when we retire. We can not wait any longer to defeat this
crisis.
For those who don't know the Social Security crisis is the threat that Social Security
may go bankrupt. Well its more than just a threat its the reality. The common belief
is that Social Security is a saving fund where the government takes a certain percentage
out of our weekly pay. Then that money is put into a savings fund where it is held until
you retire. When they retire money is returned to them in monthly checks plus the
interest. This is where they are wrong. Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system where
the current
workforce pays for the present retirees, and then when they retire they will depend on
the workforce and so on and so on. Which is fine when you always have more workers then
retirees. This is the problem the government will face when the Baby Boomers retire in
the year 2010. In 1950 there were 7.2 workers for each retiree. Today there are 3.2
workers for every retiree, an by the year 2020 there will only be 2.4 or less for each
retiree. By the year 2010-2015 Social Security is projected by the government to pay out
more money than it could take in. Since the current Social Security took in a surplus of
$60 billion last year with a projected total to be around $5 trillion they will have
enough money to last another 10 years or so. All in all experts expect that Social
Security will have spent every penny it has by the year 2030
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