Will Social Security be here in 50 years?

The answer to the question in the title is easy to come up with: of course. Some young people fear it will not be, but it will because without it there would be total economic disaster.
Consider this: suppose Social Security ended today. That would mean $7.5 million dollars would not be paid in benefits every month. The vast majority of that is spent and goes straight back into the economy. It pays landlords and grocery stores, nursing homes and auto dealers. Every business imaginable benefits.
Without it who would provide shelter and other necessities for millions of elderly people? Many states have laws saying their children must do it. If no one did it, visualize the number of corpses lying around owing to starvation. Not a pretty picture.
Don't say each person would have made arrangements to provide for themselves. We all know better than that. We all remember how the stock market tanked, banks failed, auto companies went bust, house were foreclosed, credit card debt blossomed and savings disappeared during the past 15 months.
The amount of Social Security taxes paid by working people would be dwarfed by the expenses those same people would be burdened with if the care of mom and dad became their responsibility.
If the day should come when Social Security ceased to exist it would be the same day life in America as people have known it would cease to exist. We no longer live in an agricultural society where people stayed put and families remained united. Now they are spread all over the map. Providing for the elders would be a logistical nightmare without even considering other factors.
Had the Townsend Plan ($200 a month paid to every person over the age of 60 provided they spend it within five days) been enacted when first proposed in 1934 it might have brought a quick end to the Great Depression. If Social Security were to end, it would make the 1930s look like years of great prosperity.
So stop worrying, it will be there when you retire because if it shouldn't be, neither will the America you know. As they said about AIG and the large banks, Social Security is too big to fail.


www.dickstodghill.com