According to this article, the Medicare fund is projected to run out by 2017, and the social security trust fund will be depleted by 2037--just in time for my retirement. I am concerned by these projections for two reasons: 1) I will never get a return on all the money I am paying for social security/medicare; instead, I'm paying social security/medicare for people who are using it now. That's a ponzi scheme if I ever heard of one. What happens when I'm 70 and need to buy expensive prescriptions? 2) I sense that there will be huge tax increases to build up the Medicare and social security funds in the upcoming years. I'm not opposed to taxation, but I am opposed to seeing my taxes lost in the system. I mean, America's welfare state isn't even anywhere close to being as good as the ones in Europe. So, again, I'd be paying a huge sum for little return in terms of a social security net.
I see the lack of money for social security and medicare to be very big problems that wear down my faith in the capitalist system. What is a the good of a society/government that can't ensure the basic survival necessities to its people? Isn't that the definition of a third world country? Yes, Americans enjoy the big booms of the capitalist systems but the drastic busts have the potential of leaving people utterly destitute. There needs to be more guarantee against this in our social programs.
On an individual level, it may be wise for people to look towards the Norway model: save during boom times for the inevitable busts. Americans will have to depend on themselves for retirement since the government has proven itself to be an irresponsible guardian.
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