Freightdawg stated above: "If nothing is done this system will crash and burn within a decade or just a little longer. In the next 10 years the number of retirees will exceed the number of workers. The only way to operate with the current system is to increase the tax rate exponentially, significantly raise the minimum retirement age, or drastically reduce the benefit package. Pick your poison."

We quote from the Volume 46, Number 1 of the AARP Bulletin:
"The most recent Social Security trustee's report shows that the system can pay all scheduled benefits until 2042...While 2042 may seem a long way off, experts agree that it's better to make modeate changes earlier than later...The simplest adjustment would be a slight increase in the payroll, or FICA tax. According to the Social Security trustees, if the tax on wages today were raised by less than 1 percent each for employee and employer (from the current rate of 6.2 percent each), Social Security would be solvent through 2077."

A 1 percent increase in the tax could hardly be called exponential and this would gurantee Freightdawg's benefits until he dies unless he's a whole lot younger than we think he is.

In addition, there are several other ways to extend the life of Social Security such as slightly increasing the retirement age and raising the point at which wages are no longer subject to FICA tax from the current $90,000 to $140,000. In 1883, the $90,000 limit included 90 percent of all wages. Today, it includes only 84 percent of all wages.

Bev and Jerry