Reply #22: population [View All]

[ThomasJackson]

actually, you're right, the population total is increasing ... but that takes into account the fact that people live longer. Overall, the number of people contributing to the system is growing less rapidly than the number of people receiving benfits.

In the begining there were 34 or 35 workers paying SS taxes for every person receiving benefits. It is less than half that now, and in 30 years or so is projected to be as low as 3 or 4 taxpayers per retiree.

And therin lies the problem. Again the program is structured so that every new generation pays the generation just retired. So...when the baby boom starts to retire, the country will be hard pressed to keep payong as promised. There are just not enough mew people to keep it going the same way as it did in the past.