Average American Pays Less into SS and Medicare than They Receive

[Listening]

I do not doubt that is true.

But the $1 I put into SSI in 1965 could buy me 4 loaves of good bread.

The $1 I get back today, will buy me maybe one loaf of good bread.

I doubt it would buy you 1/2 a loaf of moldy bread.

I'd love to have my S.S. contributions in my own bank account having earned some serious interest through the years.

It's enough to make you cry.

 

[uscitizen]

I do not doubt that is true.

But the $1 I put into SSI in 1965 could buy me 4 loaves of good bread.

The $1 I get back today, will buy me maybe one loaf of good bread.

Yep that is why SS has COLA adjustments.

 

[Listening]

your numbers show SS paying fro its self Toro.

So why did President Obama say he could not guarantee that social security checks would go out in early August because of the debt ceiling issue ?

Sounds like month to month to me.

Please help me out here.

 

[uscitizen]

I do not doubt that is true.

But the $1 I put into SSI in 1965 could buy me 4 loaves of good bread.

The $1 I get back today, will buy me maybe one loaf of good bread.

I doubt it would buy you 1/2 a loaf of moldy bread.

I'd love to have my S.S. contributions in my own bank account having earned some serious interest through the years.

It's enough to make you cry.

Yep if you had not spent that money on something else over the years.

 

[uscitizen]

your numbers show SS paying fro its self Toro.

So why did President Obama say he could not guarantee that social security checks would go out in early August because of the debt ceiling issue ?

Sounds like month to month to me.

Please help me out here.

Umm getting those checks out requires human workers and if the govt is shut down and those workers are not working...

 

[Truthmatters]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefitsThey will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.



One is OK the other doesnt work

 

[boedicca]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefits. They will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.

For an average couple aged 46, each earning $43,500 a year, they will pay $917,000 in taxes for SS and Medicare and receive $1,226,000 in benefits, or $309,000 more than they receive.

The study assumes a 2% real rate of return.

Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Benefits Over a Lifetime
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/social-security-medicare-benefits-over-lifetime.pdf

This is flawed as a forecast.

The ratio of taxpayers to beneficiaries has been dwindling for years - from over 40:1 when the program started to approximately 3:1 today. It won't be long before it drops to 2:1. There are two plausible scenarios: benefits (and the returns) are cut to match receipts or taxes are increased dramatically (and future returns lowered) on current taxpayers.

SS is a Ponzi Scheme that is reaching its tipping point, as the stand alone figures already show. Combining SS and Medicare is sophistry - they are two separate programs.

 

[boedicca]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefitsThey will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.



One is OK the other doesnt work

So, TMN thinks it's fine that people receive less than they pay in for SS, and should have the same arrangement for Medicare.

Got it.

The couple would have been better off keeping and investing the money in their own retirement accounts. The SS has a negative return; the Medicare portion has a hugely distorted cost structure due to government interference.

 

[uscitizen]

Due to cola SS does not have a negative return.
And empirical evidence shows that the vast majority of people would not take their current SS contributions and keep them safe in a retirement account until retirement. To suggest that they would is just plain wrong or overly idealistic at best.

 

[Truthmatters]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefitsThey will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.



One is OK the other doesnt work

So, TMN thinks it's fine that people receive less than they pay in for SS, and should have the same arrangement for Medicare.

Got it.

The couple would have been better off keeping and investing the money in their own retirement accounts. The SS has a negative return; the Medicare portion has a hugely distorted cost structure due to government interference.

SS also pays for the dependent children of dead workers.

I dont mind paying that and most decent people who care about others think so too.

 

[Toro]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefitsThey will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.



One is OK the other doesnt work

So, TMN thinks it's fine that people receive less than they pay in for SS, and should have the same arrangement for Medicare.

Got it.

The couple would have been better off keeping and investing the money in their own retirement accounts. The SS has a negative return; the Medicare portion has a hugely distorted cost structure due to government interference.

SS does not have a negative return.

 

[Truthmatters]

Thnak you Toro for accepting that fact

 

[Cuyo]

I do not doubt that is true.

But the $1 I put into SSI in 1965 could buy me 4 loaves of good bread.

The $1 I get back today, will buy me maybe one loaf of good bread.

I'm fairly sure Toro's numbers were inflation adjusted.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefits. They will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.

For an average couple aged 46, each earning $43,500 a year, they will pay $917,000 in taxes for SS and Medicare and receive $1,226,000 in benefits, or $309,000 more than they receive.

The study assumes a 2% real rate of return.

Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Benefits Over a Lifetime
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/social-security-medicare-benefits-over-lifetime.pdf

Yet SS and Medicare is going broke and needs an immediate fix.

Somebody is lying.

 

[uscitizen]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefits. They will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.

For an average couple aged 46, each earning $43,500 a year, they will pay $917,000 in taxes for SS and Medicare and receive $1,226,000 in benefits, or $309,000 more than they receive.

The study assumes a 2% real rate of return.

Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Benefits Over a Lifetime
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/social-security-medicare-benefits-over-lifetime.pdf

Yet SS and Medicare is going broke and needs an immediate fix.

Somebody is lying.

Umm our broke govt does not want to pay back the SS surplus they spent is the only immediate problem with SS.

Medicare now is another issue and is costing a bunch of tax dollars.

 

[edthecynic]

I am not sure what point you are trying to make here.

When I first read this, I have to be concerned with the assertion people will somehow get more out of the system than they put in.

At first blush:

The government does nothing to add value to the dollars it collects.
Therefore it is nothing more than a pass through system with administrative costs.
So, the money going in has to equal the money coming out.
If someone is getting more out than they put in.
Somene else is putting more in than they are getting out.

These are just a few quick thoughts.

I would like to know why you posted the article.

To show that people have been taking out more than they have been putting in. SS and Medicare are supposed to be self-funding. They are not.

So you can use the information anyway you wish.

But your numbers show SS is ok and that its the medical system that is in imbalemce.

The anti SS crowd knows that, which is exactly why they group Medicare and Medicade with SS!

 

[expat_panama]

Why are you ignoring that SS pays for itsself?

Not sure if that was directed at me; if so we need to understand that I'd be happy if Social Security paid for itself in a way that I didn't have to. Unfortunately, I do have to pay for it. Let's figure a way that Social Security pays for itself without my paying for it and we can talk.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

It is estimated that for the average couple aged 65, each earning $43,500 a year, over their lifetime, they will on average pay $598,000 in SS taxes and receive $556,000 in SS benefits. They will pay $119,000 in Medicare taxes and receive $357,000 in Medicare benefits. In total, the couple will pay $717,000 in taxes and $913,000 in benefits, or $196,000 more than they received.

For an average couple aged 46, each earning $43,500 a year, they will pay $917,000 in taxes for SS and Medicare and receive $1,226,000 in benefits, or $309,000 more than they receive.

The study assumes a 2% real rate of return.

Social Security and Medicare Taxes and Benefits Over a Lifetime
http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/social-security-medicare-benefits-over-lifetime.pdf

Yet SS and Medicare is going broke and needs an immediate fix.

Somebody is lying.

Umm our broke govt does not want to pay back the SS surplus they spent is the only immediate problem with SS.

Medicare now is another issue and is costing a bunch of tax dollars.

Not really. They trustees have gone to Congress and told them that it will go into default by 2017 unless they apply the same "fix" that Reagan did. That is with them operating under the assumption that all of the money in the trust fund is actually real.

 

[uscitizen]

To show that people have been taking out more than they have been putting in. SS and Medicare are supposed to be self-funding. They are not.

So you can use the information anyway you wish.

But your numbers show SS is ok and that its the medical system that is in imbalemce.

The anti SS crowd knows that, which is exactly why they group Medicare and Medicade with SS!

Also why that in spending pie charts the total SS expendatures are shown not the expendatures above the surplus.
Technically the govt is spending nothing From general tax revenues yet on SS. Just repaying money they borrowed.

 

[Truthmatters]

To show that people have been taking out more than they have been putting in. SS and Medicare are supposed to be self-funding. They are not.

So you can use the information anyway you wish.

But your numbers show SS is ok and that its the medical system that is in imbalemce.

The anti SS crowd knows that, which is exactly why they group Medicare and Medicade with SS!

Toro is a good guy and always fesses up to the facts.

I really like him.

He has class