To Carol, Bev and Jerry, and especially Don,

Thank you. I have been waiting for someone to call me on this. Boy, sometimes it takes a while.

I wish I could produce book, chapter and verse for the claims that I have made. Actually, the thoughts I have are the result of many articles I have read, in various papers and journals, from a variety of "specialists" and pundits. I read the ones about the rosy outlook and the ones for the dismal outlook, and then I look around me and ask, based on common sense, which *seems* to be most believable.

As someone above has stated, virtually every source is going to have its own agenda. I do not believe anything produced by our elected officials, because if a disaster was looming they would be the last to admit it. The AARP is also suspect because they have their own agenda, and you do not make money by telling your base constituency that they have been hoodwinked.

To be perfectly honest, I do not believe anyone really knows what shape Social Security is in, positive or negative.

But, the trust fund is a mirage. Stop and think - the Federal government borrows money from the Federal government, with the Federal government being the guarantor of the loan. Lovely. That means when the outgo exceeds the income there is only one source to make up the difference: taxes. The "surplus" is spent. The bonds are just paper. It's just for the accounting folks. If the Social Security Administration calls for the bonds to be repaid, where in the billion dollar deficit that the government now runs is the money going to come from?? This is why I say there is no trust fund. It may exist on paper, but unless the notes are secured with some liquid source, there is no legitimacy to their value. No other financial institution could get away with this chicanery, but because there is so much at stake the congress turns a blind eye to the real problem. Besides, this way they get money to build roads and dams and public monuments.

Which leads me to my generally pessimistic view. I know from my micro-economy in which I live and work that people are, or will be, retiring faster than at any other time in recent history. There are fewer and fewer replacement workers. Retirees are living longer, and are incurring greater and greater expenses. So, when I say do the math this is what I am saying:

More retirees + more expenses + no useable surplus = ever increasing expenditures

Fewer workers = lower income

Just because people are denying there is a problem does not make me feel any better. We did not think Pearl Harbor could happen, but it did. We did not think the events of 9/11 could happen, but they did. We did not think a tsunami could kill 150 thousand people, but it did. We did not think the Titanic could sink, but it did.

But Americans put human beings on the moon. We have also virtually eliminated many diseases that used to cripple generations. We constantly apply our resources and our ingenuity to create solutions to seemingly insurmountable problems.

But we have to first face them as problems, and admit our failures, and look to other possibilities. Sticking our head in the sand and saying, "Oh, it won't happen for 30 years" is simple insanity if you ask me. If a politician says it might happen in 30 years, I have a pretty good idea it will happen in 10. He/she is just saying "it probably won't happen on my watch, so I want to get that highway built in my district first."

So please, do not take my comments as personal attacks. I am simply trying to be a voice for a younger set of folks that says, with all honesty and with all sincerity, Social Security is broken, it will not be in existance *as it exists today* at the end of this decade to decade and a half.

There are options. Most involve thinking "outside the box". That is all I am asking for. If you were born before 1950 this discussion is probably just academic for you, as I do not see the government backing out of current pledges (barring a total bankruptcy). If you were born after 1950 things do not look as rosy. Therein may be the difference in opinions that we share.

respectfully,

Freightdawg