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Re: [OM] Kodak Chapter 11

Subject: Re: [OM] Kodak Chapter 11
From: Charles Geilfuss <charles.geilfuss@xxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:03:53 -0500
  I will admit to a bit of hyperbole, but by saying it is broke I mean that
SS is pretty close to the point where outlays exceed what is brought in by
the payroll tax (it may have actually reached that point this last year or
so) and the administrators are forced to pull funds from the SS Trust Fund
which of course doesn't actually exist. It is simply an IOU from the rest
of the government to make up the shortfall. So the additional funds have to
come from general revenues which we all know is already in a deficit. So
something either has to lose its funding, more taxes must be raised or we
borrow more money from China. That is OK as a short term fix but is not
sustainable in the long term. It can be fixed but no one in Congress has
the cojones to do what is needed. First, the rate at which payments to
retirees are increased has to be lowered. I forget what index it is tied to
but the current rate is too high. Secondly, the retirement age has to be
raised to reflect increasing lifespan of the population. Thirdly, they need
to implement means testing. If you have other retirement income your SS
payment is taken back at a proportional rate. So there is enough here to
make everyone unhappy so it must be the right thing to do. It would also
help if the rest of the government could balance its budget so it didn't
have to raid the SS Trust Fund to make its budget deficit look less bad.
I'm not sure what the SS administrators would do with all that cash but
even if they stuffed it in a giant mattress it would be better than
spending it only to have to tax even more to make up the difference.

Charlie

On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 1:23 PM, Mike Lazzari <watershed@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:

> >    We have Social Security, but oh it's broke too.
> It isn't broke. That's misconception. But it's hard to keep the people's
> hands out of any big pot of $$$.
>
> BTW, How come when the gov't collects it's a tax but when you pay into a
> pension fund it's an investment? And which ones are going TU?
>
> Mike
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