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 Social Security will
begin running a deficit by 2018.
The average worker
can expect a rate-of-return of less than 2% on his or her Social Security
taxes.
The Social Security payroll
tax rate has grown from just 2% in 1949 to 12.4% today.
Social Security faces
an unfounded liability of more than $26 Trillion.
"Saving"
Social Security without individual accounts could require a 50% increase in
Social Security taxes or a 27% cut in benefits.
The Supreme Court
ruled in Flemming v. Nestor that there is no legal right to Social Security
benefits.
Social Security taxes
have been raised more than 40 times since the program began.
The maximum original
Social Security tax was just $60. Today it is $11,000.
In 1950, there were
16 workers paying Social Security taxes for every retired person receiving
benefits. Today there are 3.3. By 2030, there will be only 2.
By 2030, there will
be 70 million Americans of retirement age – twice as many as today.
46 million Americans
receive Social Security benefits, including 32 million retirees, 7 million
survivors, and 7 million disabled workers.
Social Security pays
more than $450 billion in benefits each year. If nothing is done, by 2060,
the combination of Social Security and Medicare will account for more than
71% of the federal budget.
According to Gallup,
reforming Social Security is a top priority for 33% of investors.
Nearly 80% of
Americans pay more in Social Security taxes than they do in federal income
taxes.
Every two-year
election cycle that we wait to reform Social Security costs an additional
$320 billion.
In 1935 when Social
Security was established, life expectancy was 63.
The full retirement
age today is 65 years and 4 months. It rises by two months every year,
gradually increasing to age 67 for people born after 1959.
The average monthly
retirement benefit in 2003 was $879.70
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