More fear-mongering. How come Forbes never writes an article on how the military is running out of money and the can no longer afford its empire?
Over the last 15 years, the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Chief Actuary has consistently underestimated retirees’ life expectancy and made other errors that make the finances of the retirement system look significantly better than they are , a new study by two Harvard and one Dartmouth academics concludes. The report, being published today by the Journal of Economic Perspectives, is the first, the authors say, to compare the government agency’s past demographic and financial forecasts with actual results.
In a second paper appearing today in Political Analysis, the three researchers offer their theory of why the Actuary Office’s predictions have apparently grown less reliable since 2000: the civil servants who run it have responded to increased political polarization surrounding Social Security “by hunkering down” and resisting outside pressures—not only from the politicians, but also from outside technical experts. “While they’re insulating themselves from the politics, they also insulate themselves from the data and this big change in the world –people started living longer lives,’’ coauthor Gary King, a leading political scientist and director of Harvard’s Institute for Quantitative Social Science, said in an interview Thursday. “They need to take that into account and change the forecast as a result of that.”
In its annual report last July, Social Security predicted its old age and disability trust funds, combined, would be exhausted in 2033 and that after that point the government will have enough payroll tax revenues coming in to pay only about three quarters of promised benefits. King said his team hasn’t estimated how much sooner the fund might run out, but described it as in “significantly worse shape” than official forecasts indicate...
Forbes
Harvard Study: Social Security In Far Worse Shape Than Official Numbers Show
Janet Novak, Forbes staff
6 comments:
"How come Forbes never writes an article on how the military is running out of money and the can no longer afford its empire?"
Yeah. How do we know that the Pentagon trust fund will have enough money 75 years from now ?
Here is another doozy of an article -You Will Not Get To Retire: How Old Age Became Unaffordable And Unhealthy, And How We Can Fix It
His solution - "put into place policies and services that enable people to work longer."
No wonder SETI keeps getting no answers.
If we ever find some other entity, that'll probably change to a permanent busy tone. :(
Harvard does not seem the prestigious place people think it is.
@Roger,
Maybe David Grinspoon, Seth Shostak, and David Brin should first make sure whether there is intelligent life on earth.
"How do we know that the Pentagon trust fund will have enough money 75 years from now?"
That is a classic line, Dan. It helps clarify the silliness.
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