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It is good to call them estimates, because beyond the near future, it is difficult to say how long the program will last.
Mr. Bush has suggested the the shortfall is $10 trillion. That attention getting number is far larger than the number estimated by the Congressional Budget Office. The CBO has pegged the estimate at $2 trillion. The Social Security trustees have released their own estimate of $3.7 trillion shortfall over the same 75 year period. These manageable numbers require no dismantling of the current system according to the American Academy of Actuaries. In the past, the program has been saved numerous times by the federal government and with minor changes, not the major ones proposed by the President, will continue to be the humane way a country deals with their retired workforce. While those changes may be painful because they may include a change in benefits (possibly from a switch from benefit increases using wage base adjustments to the Consumer Price Index or CPI - usually more modest to a gradual increase in taxes over the ensuing years to a restriction placed on the annual $500 billion in surpluses which is promptly siphoned off into the federal budget. [ Close Window ] This site and all its contents are copyright 1998-2005 by Paul Petillo/Editor/BlueCollarDollar.com. All Rights Reserved. |