Apr 172009
Here’s the good news: future costs of Social Security and Medicare won’t require higher taxes. Now here’s the bad news: the reason these programs won’t require higher taxes is that they’ll be so expensive that there’s no possible way to pay for them through taxes. Everything in the US (not counting people) is worth about $50 trillion and those two programs will cost $80 trillion, unless they are reformed.
And the article even comes with the best possible graphic:
Here’s a suggestion: get a damned job, Grandma.
4 Responses to “Social Security and Medicare Will Cost More Than The Value Of Everything In The United States”
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Read the linked article and didn’t see the answer: what sort of period are those “future costs” of SS and Medicare figured over ? If it’s more than a year, shouldn’t we be comparing them to GDP or government revenue ?
One could multiply NASA’s annual budget by a 1000 years and get an absurdly large number. Does that mean space exploration is going to cost us more than what everything in the country is worth right now ?
You’re learning one of the great lessons of reporting: subtle manipulation of the numbers. It’s an incredibly useful tool to allow a reporter to lie with statistics.
While not a statistician myself, “How to Lie With Statistics” has served me well in my business career. Since the numbers made it into the post without comment I wanted to be sure the admin hadn’t let something slip through.
Can’t remember who said it but:
“There are three types of lies, Lies, Damn-Lies, and Statistics”
Randy