With all the political ads and coverage there are two crises which neither party is talking about. The first is the pending collapse of Social Security. At its core, Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. Like all Ponzi schemes, when obligations to old investors exceed revenue from new investors, the scheme collapses. We are headed toward that outcome in the 2030s.
According to the Trustees of the Social Security trust fund, the fund will run out of money by the first quarter of 2032. When Social Security started, the worker retiree ratio was 159.4 to 1. By 2032, the worker retiree ration will be 2.9 to 1. This is totally unsustainable.
The age to collect when Social Security started was three years before the average life expectancy. Today, retirees can collect up to 16 years before reaching the age of life expectancy. Social Security has been a heck of a deal for the boomers. They got to collect earlier and longer than any future generation.
What is the solution? Our government could delay Social Security’s collapse by raising the income limit. Our government could immediately raise the age to collect and decrease benefits. Will our government do these things? Of course not, our government excels at doing nothing unless it involves bombing people in the Middle East.
The second crisis barreling toward us is the national debt. It just reached the amazing milestone of $40 trillion. Servicing the national debt is the third largest government expense.
Republicans have made a big deal about cutting back on SNAP benefits. SNAP costs taxpayers 1/8 of what interest on the national debt does. Where are our fiscal conservatives on the national debt? According to the Congressional Budget Office, the national debt is projected to rise from 101% of gross domestic product to 120% by 2036.
What is the average American to do? If you are under 50, don’t worry about retirement. Take that cruise, book that flight. Try not to think about the fact the government has stolen your money for 30 to 40 years and you won’t see a dime. Sit your children down, explain to them they will need to pay more in taxes because our government likes to start new wars before they have paid off their old wars.
My final suggestion is to purchase large quantities of Mad Max-style clothing as the 2030s are going to be wild!
Adam Czarkowski works in the technology sector and lives in Penacook.