Monday, December 08, 2003
Now You See It... Now You Still See It
For years, I have been hearing about the failing Social Security System. "They" have claimed we are running out of money; there won't be enough for the rest of us. "They" have said our aging population has been draining the funds for years.
"They" have said it so often, I actually found myself believing them. It is a terrible thing to be convinced that our grandparents are "living too long" and draining our futures. It's a terrible thing "they" are trying to make us believe.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics (part of the CDC), a person is expected to live 6 years longer then they would have been expected to live in back in 1931 when social security was first being conceived. A person retiring at 65 years of age in 1931 could expect to live another 13 years.. Today, a person retiring at 65 can expect to live 19 years. That is 6 additional years of social security. (Actually, I am striving to live to 100 just to see what I can see.)
However. . .
Let's look at some actual figures. At 14 years of age, I babysat (and cooked, cleaned, did laundry, etc.) for a family for 9 1/2 weeks at 35 cents per hour. The family withheld a portion of my pay to put into Social Security -- and here it is on my record! In 1963, Taxed Social Security Earnings of $129. How cool. And, I have worked almost every year since (minus the pregnant years). At the current rate, I will have earned about $1,000,000 in my lifetime if I work until I am 65 years of age. Also at the present rate, I will have put into Social Security about $70,000 and my employers will have contributed another $70,000 for me. I figure I will have earned money for 600 months. Counting my contributions and those of my employers, we have been contributing an average of $234 per month into the SSS. If we had put that money into a savings account with average 5% interest rates over 50 years, we would have accumulated $603,651 (WOW).
The Social Security System plans to pay me $1200 a month when I retire. With $603,651 in my SSS "savings account", I could draw $1200 a month PLUS annual 5% raises for cost of living increases for 37 years–I could live to be 102 years old and never ever take out a penny of someone else's money.
Compound that figure with the fact that most people don't live to be 102 years of age I now reckon we have plenty of funds. No wonder the GOP had to keep slapping down Clinton's greedy little fingers when he was trying to raid the SSS cookie jar. I can see how tempting it would be to "borrow" a little something to bolster up the coffers.
There is an Alliance to Privatize Social Security -- a group of bankers & investors drooling to get their hands on our money. They make claims like our children will have to pay 40% higher payroll taxes (in other words, 10% instead of 7% -- but it sounds more drastic to say "40% higher"). Where do they get that from? In case I live to 150 years of age? Privatizing proponents neglect to tell us that the SSS only uses about 1% of the funds for administration costs. Have private companies like banks and investor corporations ever come close to that level of self control?
Just because a dramatic story gets repeated in the audience-hungry press, just because it gets repeated repeatedly, doesn't make the story true. Since the press in the United States has absolutely no legal obligation nor moral desire to verify the information or misinformation they belch out at us in their so-called "news" reports, the press will continue to quote headline grabbing doomsayers. It sells papers. It guarantees viewers and listeners and readers. We will continue to be subjugated to quotes from researchers and pollsters that put whatever spin on the statistics that will back up whatever point they are trying to make. They choose who to quote and what to quote. The journalist never has to prove their statements are true, just that they are quoting the source accurately. And we are left to trudge through their contorted & distorted muck trying to find some fragment of truth. I finally know who "they" are.
I am so glad I took this time to figure out the actual numbers. I feel much better. And I hope you do too.
For years, I have been hearing about the failing Social Security System. "They" have claimed we are running out of money; there won't be enough for the rest of us. "They" have said our aging population has been draining the funds for years.
"They" have said it so often, I actually found myself believing them. It is a terrible thing to be convinced that our grandparents are "living too long" and draining our futures. It's a terrible thing "they" are trying to make us believe.
According to the National Center for Health Statistics (part of the CDC), a person is expected to live 6 years longer then they would have been expected to live in back in 1931 when social security was first being conceived. A person retiring at 65 years of age in 1931 could expect to live another 13 years.. Today, a person retiring at 65 can expect to live 19 years. That is 6 additional years of social security. (Actually, I am striving to live to 100 just to see what I can see.)
However. . .
Let's look at some actual figures. At 14 years of age, I babysat (and cooked, cleaned, did laundry, etc.) for a family for 9 1/2 weeks at 35 cents per hour. The family withheld a portion of my pay to put into Social Security -- and here it is on my record! In 1963, Taxed Social Security Earnings of $129. How cool. And, I have worked almost every year since (minus the pregnant years). At the current rate, I will have earned about $1,000,000 in my lifetime if I work until I am 65 years of age. Also at the present rate, I will have put into Social Security about $70,000 and my employers will have contributed another $70,000 for me. I figure I will have earned money for 600 months. Counting my contributions and those of my employers, we have been contributing an average of $234 per month into the SSS. If we had put that money into a savings account with average 5% interest rates over 50 years, we would have accumulated $603,651 (WOW).
The Social Security System plans to pay me $1200 a month when I retire. With $603,651 in my SSS "savings account", I could draw $1200 a month PLUS annual 5% raises for cost of living increases for 37 years–I could live to be 102 years old and never ever take out a penny of someone else's money.
Compound that figure with the fact that most people don't live to be 102 years of age I now reckon we have plenty of funds. No wonder the GOP had to keep slapping down Clinton's greedy little fingers when he was trying to raid the SSS cookie jar. I can see how tempting it would be to "borrow" a little something to bolster up the coffers.
There is an Alliance to Privatize Social Security -- a group of bankers & investors drooling to get their hands on our money. They make claims like our children will have to pay 40% higher payroll taxes (in other words, 10% instead of 7% -- but it sounds more drastic to say "40% higher"). Where do they get that from? In case I live to 150 years of age? Privatizing proponents neglect to tell us that the SSS only uses about 1% of the funds for administration costs. Have private companies like banks and investor corporations ever come close to that level of self control?
Just because a dramatic story gets repeated in the audience-hungry press, just because it gets repeated repeatedly, doesn't make the story true. Since the press in the United States has absolutely no legal obligation nor moral desire to verify the information or misinformation they belch out at us in their so-called "news" reports, the press will continue to quote headline grabbing doomsayers. It sells papers. It guarantees viewers and listeners and readers. We will continue to be subjugated to quotes from researchers and pollsters that put whatever spin on the statistics that will back up whatever point they are trying to make. They choose who to quote and what to quote. The journalist never has to prove their statements are true, just that they are quoting the source accurately. And we are left to trudge through their contorted & distorted muck trying to find some fragment of truth. I finally know who "they" are.
I am so glad I took this time to figure out the actual numbers. I feel much better. And I hope you do too.
