Reply #7: The amazing part is that it was all predicted in 1934 by the actuaries

[papau]

that set up the plan.

In 1934, when Franklin Roosevelt formed the Committee on Economic Security to design what was in effect the first federal safety net, the committee hired three actuaries to stargaze into the future. The actuaries predicted that the proportion of Americans over 65 -- then only 5.4 percent -- would rise to 12.65 percent in 1990, meaning that retiree costs would soar. They were just a tad high; the actual figure would be 12.49 percent.

Nothing has changed. There is no problem. Two workers per retiree does not kill the system - indeed, it does not even strain it that much.

I am an actuary. Talk to an actuary. The Bush folks talk to any and all math/statistical types except the actuaries.