The Comptroller General and the future of Social Security/Medicare

[wilkens21]

I was alerted to these 2 videos (which I think some of you have seen):

YouTube - U.S. Headed For Fiscal Crisis?

YouTube - GAO: "USA is living beyond its means"

What are you thoughts about what he has to say and the effect on the future of SS/Medicare? He's talking about Mega-trillions of debt thanks to the prescription bill that Bush signed into effect that could affect our retirements.

[chinaco]

Higher taxes. It is not free.

Part of the problem is that the SS trust fund is not a trust fund. That money was spent for other purposes by the politicians.

What will get squeezed are the other social programs and other spending. It will begin to happen soon. Some of it comes down to priorities.

There is not doubt that health care will have to be delivered differently. For those at the bottom rung of the ladder, it will be available, but rationed in some way. Those who have money will pay for it, but get better health care than a baseline.

For SS, it will be means tested. Those who have other income sources will be hit with higher taxes against SS. Plus, the amount working people pay in to SS and Medicare or whatever the health care system is will increase.

Less benefits (on average) and higher taxes.


The war in Iraq is estimated to cost $1T. That money would have been better spent dealing with domestic problems.

[DougViages]

Listen to our politicians: Universal Health Care ($$$$$); Global Warming ($$$$$), and not a word on SS and Medicare. These four "freight trains" are coming right down the track at us. We are going to end up poorer, less free, and living in a "stag-flation" environment worse than the Western Europeans. None of our "leaders" is going to have the foresight or common sense to address these issues honestly.

Where can we live when we FIRE? What country has tax and cost advantages?