I was reading an article at the Financial Samurai’s site called “An Unemployment Epidemic For College Graduates” and as I felt bad for recent graduates, I stated to wonder what about Social Security and the effects on it?
My question is “how is the lack of jobs that the graduates of today aren’t getting hired for, going to affect Social Security“? Social Security is collected from the workers of today to pay for the labor of the workers that are now retired. As Sam mentions in his article between 50 to 80% of college graduates aren’t getting hired. The jobs that college graduates get hired for pay much more money than the run of the mill jobs. How is that loss going to be made up?
Since technology is enabling the jobs of today to be eliminated and outsourced, what impact will that have on Social Security? I think we will find that it will drain what little reserves that are in existence to practically nothing soon that what was predicted.
The problem with Social Security is that it’s too complex and needs to be simplified and protected by laws. Instead of continually beating up our the financial institutions, focus should be redirected in making sure that Social Security is solid and whole again. This is the kind of “Change” that I really was hoping for, not more debt.
Instead of having the Social Security monies at the disposal of government whims of the moment, there should be protective laws put around the entire social mechanism. It should be protected by law since the government doesn’t seem to care about the future elderly.
I believe that the loss of jobs (especially high paying tech and call center jobs) to offshore companies will speed up the hit to the monies that should be used for Social Security at an even quicker rate. I want business to be competitive, but this seems trend seems like a constant downward spiral for the middle class lifestyles.
In many ways I think it’s very sad that we are letting money win over humans. Business needs to be competitive, but government should see what is happening and start focusing on this trend. At a very minimum, the government should do some analysis of what is happening and how it could affect middle class well-being. After all, they represent the majority, and currently the middle class is the majority. I say currently because if the something isn’t done, some day the majority will be not be the middle class, instead we will all be poor with just a few super rich individuals. Perhaps we’ll go to a form of modern Feudalism?
So Social Security doesn’t really seem that secure anymore does it…
Thanks for reading along with me as I think out loud.
MR
I read the same article but didn’t think of the Social Security aspect. Great catch. I think you are right. The taxes that are collected with current workers paying for retirees has only gone down with the recession and will have a serious impact upon the revenue for the trust fund. Add to that the fact that the first baby boomers are starting to retire and there will be huge demand with little supply of money.
I think it will important to realize that the government will probably just print money to pay for the retirees. Either that or you will see a lot more multi-generational households. The impact upon asset prices will be great but it is impossible to predict since I feel it will depend upon what the government decides to do about the problem.
I personally do not plan on Social Security in my retirement calculations. I think anyone younger than 55 shouldn’t.
I think you are right, I see the potential for more multi-generational households too… so much for the middle class lifestyle…
I tend to agree with you. Your blog post is really insightful.
It is simple yet it conveys the message very well.
Thank you for helping us out.
The great thing really is that most people 30 and under don’t really exPect to ge any government benefits. hence, I wouldn’t really worry about SS disappears.
Thanks very true. SS is starting to become a fairy tale or myth for those under 30…
Once upon a time there was a government program that…
I am 43 and I never expected to be able to draw on Social Security. However, it infuriates me because I have had no choice but to contribute a lot of money to SS over the years.
I think it will be there in some watered down form, but when the government can just print money and the dollar can drop in value like a stone in a pond, it could become meaningless even if the amounts are $30,000 a year…
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Agreed on being forced to contribute to something that I will not be able to collect. I have been working and paying into social security since I was 15. I’m 33 now and it will not be around for me. Kind of sucks.
I think it will be around in some form, but it won’t have the value it does today because of inflation. The government could just print money to get out of the problem (and this might be what their sneaky plan is…). So in 30 years, you’ll get $30,000 from SS in a year, but 1 loaf of bread will cost $100 because the government prints money like it’s monopoly money… Hopefully not this extreme, but it could be something similar…