By 2040 100% of the regular budget will have to be SS/Medicare. Somehow I doubt that the government would stop all other services, there could be serious chaos when this time rolls around but hopefully the Liberty Colony will work out so I won't have to be here for that.
what say you, government will do?
"The plans differ; the planners are all alike"
-Bastiat
What will government do? Probably the same thing it always tends to do in 'budget' crisis - INFLATE. And with eletronic transfer of SS happening, they don't even need to print money either.
SS was never anything more than a Ponzi type scheme so expecting something (of value) 'out' of it is pretty silly. Too bad there aren't more detailed 'how-to' information from places like Argentina and even the USSR after both of these basically defaulted on their money. People survived then too, would be neat to know how those that were in the know managed to weather those times too.
The answer that has kept us afloat is - NO debts (including mortgage), food storage and being energy independent (solar power). Works for us!
Jain
I don't pay Social Security, so I'm putting the money to better use now. I don't give a flip what happens to the suckers who keep paying into it.
Pro Christo et Libertate integre!
The State will force us into a new New Deal.
When SS becomes insolvent the government will seize everyone's 401K in the name of fairness and social justice.
They only need to take a look at Europe for examples. The European governments have been running massive deficits and constantly raising taxes for the past forty years. If they have not been inflating as much as the US in the past ten years is simply because the German electorate fears inflation more than higher taxes, but the ECB is currently seeing to that.
This of course may hamper a little the rampant US militarism but take a look at where present European military budgets stand...
Yes, it's time for the Dr Goebbels show!
I don't understand this worry about Social Security. Yes, it will eventually get to the point where it hasn't collected enough money to pay what it's scheduled to pay. But the entire federal government has been running a deficit for decades on end and you never hear people suggest that soldiers, bureaucrats, mailmen, or politicians will stop getting paid. Why is Social Security held to such a higher standard?
I'll tell you exactly what will happen when that day comes: The government will borrow to pay for peoples' Social Security checks. Just like they have been doing for every other government program.
Retirees are a consistantly reliable voting block, so no politician would dare take away Social Security.
We will never get there. China and India will rule the world by then anyway as the US is bankrupting itself with its militaristic foreign policy.
Social Security will be defaulted on via inflation. You'll still get your $3000/month benefit check, but it'll only buy a loaf of bread.
Taxes will probably also be raised. However, if they raise the tax rate too high, then people will just start working off-the-books.
I have my own blog at FSK's Guide to Reality. Let me know if you like it.
Look, financially the U.S. went bankrupt when the federal reserve took over the money supply. We as a nation could overcome this financial delima but we must first rid ourselves of the federal reserve and take back our rights. That my friends can only be done thru bloodshed. The price for freedom is blood. Has always been and probably will always be. The American people are for the most part not willing to die for what they believe so more than likely we will end up a third world nation mired in debt and slaves to the people who wish to exploit us. More so than we are now. It would be good to read two simple books in order to better understand how this will happen and what processes are involved. The two books would be 1984 and animal farm. Think of ot this way, you will bleed to death either working for your masters or working for your freedom, which is the better reason for death?
we must resist the borg
The government could sell mineral and timber rights in its massive land holdings but even that won't be enough. So they'll just inflate until people no longer accept the government's paper and the government can no longer finance the standing army that guarantees people will pay their taxes. They'll try to hold the line by suggesting a break-up along supra-State or State lines but the stampede for the exits will be on at that point. Optimistically, non-state institutions would be evolved enough by then to step into the vacuum without much disruption.
They could just say " we can't manage your money, sorry, you must suffer " and leave it at that.
People need to stop being forced to save, and use their money how they want.
Either that or a civil war against the government by old people. I go with the latter.
Democracy is nothing more than replacing bullets with ballots
If Pro is the opposite of Con. What is the opposite of Progress?
We could do away with the fed and refuse to pay the debt and forget about SS
anonnymous:We could do away with the fed and refuse to pay the debt and forget about SS
That is effectively what will happen, but only after the currency has been devalued to the point that people no longer use it.
ChaseCola:By 2040 100% of the regular budget will have to be SS/Medicare. Somehow I doubt that the government would stop all other services, there could be serious chaos when this time rolls around but hopefully the Liberty Colony will work out so I won't have to be here for that. what say you, government will do?
Oh, I hope they stop being able to pay anything meaningful soon! And part of me will be laughing as old farts get to eat cat food and die in boxes. Why am I being such a heartless ***? I am under the age of 30, and I see what these fucking boomers have done, and what they're precious AARP continues to do. I have spoken to some, on the radio and such, ones who claim to be "libertarian-minded", ones who can see that their receipt of SS checks comes only by theft from me and other productive young people... but they don't care. They paid in, so they're owed it. So long as they get theirs, so long as they get to quit working because they hit some arbitrary age, they don't really care who they screw to do it. They, and a couple generations before them, crafted for themselves a selfishness and a willingness to use the terrible force of government such as had previously been impossible. I hope they fucking starve.
What will "the government" do? What can they do? Their time is growing short. Now I'm mad. See what you did?
JCFolsom:And part of me will be laughing as old farts get to eat cat food and die in boxes... I have spoken to some, on the radio and such... I hope they fucking starve.
I can just imagine how that radio interview went;
JCFolsom: You *bleep* old *bleep* don't even own the *bleep* houses you live in. You *bleep* gained them through *bleep* theft. How can you *bleep* expect to leave them to your *bleep* children and *bleep* expect me to have to *bleep* rent because I can't afford a *bleep* house. You *bleep* don't own the *bleep* world, how can you *bleep* expect to own a *bleep* small portion of the *bleep* world and to keep that off the *bleep* market for *bleep* generations. We *bleep* all own the *bleep* world *bleep* collectivly so you *bleep* claiming *bleep* ownership is *bleep* stealing from *bleep* me. I hope you *bleep* die.
Radio announcer: and there you have the libertarian opinion as called in by one of our regular contributers.
JCFolsom:Now I'm mad. See what you did?
Yup. Now you can't find your happy place.
If you find something evil that wobbles, push it. - Gary North
Anonymous Coward:I can just imagine how that radio interview went; JCFolsom: You *bleep* old *bleep* don't even own the *bleep* houses you live in. You *bleep* gained them through *bleep* theft. How can you *bleep* expect to leave them to your *bleep* children and *bleep* expect me to have to *bleep* rent because I can't afford a *bleep* house. You *bleep* don't own the *bleep* world, how can you *bleep* expect to own a *bleep* small portion of the *bleep* world and to keep that off the *bleep* market for *bleep* generations. We *bleep* all own the *bleep* world *bleep* collectivly so you *bleep* claiming *bleep* ownership is *bleep* stealing from *bleep* me. I hope you *bleep* die. Radio announcer: and there you have the libertarian opinion as called in by one of our regular contributers.
It wasn't an interview, just a call in. And I don't bring up my geoism stuff, because it is a controversy all its own and would detract from the main point. You people seem to have trouble keeping your threads straight.
And, I know better than to cuss on the radio. And, of course, I rather tone down the message for those to whom the idea that income redistribution is wrong is new.
Now, now,
I was only funnin' ya.
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