Reply #43: There has to be a default on a group of bondholders, [View All]

[slipslidingaway]

our government can either default on the bonds owed to the SSTF (the U.S. citizens) or to foreign bondholders unless there is a tax increase.

In my opinion the problems with SS should not be discussed without mention of the tax cuts that Bush pushed through, a large part of the surplus at the time was really owed to the SSTF, see the Paul Krugman link below.

This is not just a SS problem, it is a general spending problem. We cannot have a policy of spreading democracy worldwide and put the tab on a credit card for future generations.

http://www.pkarchive.org/column/71101.html

Yes, we had a plan in 1983 to provide for the retirement of the baby boom generation. That is when our payroll taxes began to increase and have almost doubled since that time. Below is a yearly table of the combined trust fund with the surplus amounts.

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/STATS/table4a3.html