Reply #18: in 2017 SS will have $3.8 trillion in assets enough income form taxes and

[stevebreeze]

income from assets to pay every last dime for another decade, and by drawing down the assets it can pay every dime until AT LEAST 2042, 2052 according to the CBO. After 2042 there is still enough funding to pay retirees more in inflation adjusted dollars then they receive today. SS is NOT BROKE.

On private accounts; there is no zero chance that private accounts will pay bigger benefits to retires in the future then the current system. The "stock markets return 7% above inflation" line you have heard time and again is a lie. The reason is the 7% is based on past performance of annual GDP growth of 3-4%. The SS trustee estimate GDP growth at 1.8%. If we only grow at 1.8% stocks can not grow by 7%. The economy can not grow faster then it's parts.When you figure in the enormous transition costs($2 trillion) and the 15% EXTRA that it will take to administer private accounts There is no chance whatsoever that a new system of forced saving will be better then the current pay as you go system which has lifted million of elderly and disabled out of poverty.