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A comment on A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.).

Re:A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.) by ckinnan on Sunday January 11, 2009 @01:09AM (#428879)
Social Security taxes are actually a rather large 12.4% of income. (this includes the employer contribution, which is economically part of a worker's compensation.)

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/ProgData/taxRates.html

Worker "contributions" also are immediately spent on unrelated programs (the trust fund is given special government IOUs that are valueless) leaving an unfunded liability in the trillions of dollars. On a cash-flow basis, the program will begin to run in the red as the first boomers retire in 2017.

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Re:A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.) by dgabriel on Sunday January 11, 2009 @10:55AM (#429226)
Boomers have already started retiring. The first wave became eligible in 2007. Perhaps you mean the peak?
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Re:A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.) by ckinnan on Sunday January 11, 2009 @09:56PM (#430006)
Right, sorry, 2017 is the year the total paid to retirees is greater than the incoming contributions.

Medicare is already running in the red, by the way.

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Re:A Defense of libertarianism (and response to Zed, etc.) by dgabriel on Tuesday January 13, 2009 @10:20AM (#432099)
That is terrifying.
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