Liberty Matters

According to a recent article, entitled Government Benefit Programs in Trouble, Social Security and Medicare are soon to be on life support. Trustees from the two benefit programs have listed Social Security’s trust fund depletion date at 2041 and Medicare’s at 2019.

Both those dates were the same as in last year’s report. But the trustees warned that financial pressures will begin much sooner when the programs begin paying out more in benefits each year than they collect in payroll taxes. For Medicare, that threshold is projected to be reached this year and for Social Security it is projected to occur in 2017.

Did our government really believe that they would never have to pay back the billions of dollars they have borrowed, over the years, from the Social Security trust fund? Or, is it just that they never even honestly considered it? It must have been difficult having such easy access to all that surplus over the years. Borrow a little here; take a little there. The next thing you know, it’s gone. The hard truth is that the trust fund will no longer have the money to fully pay out the benefits promised to the people by the time 2017 roles around. In other words, they will be short. Do you understand what they are say here? There will not be enough money coming in from payroll taxes to cover the benefits they will be required to pay out. What is the government to do? What can they do? They will be left with only two choices, raise taxes or cut other government programs. Which one do you think they will choose?

When one gives another any control over their life, or their well-being, they are just asking for the problems we are currently seeing with the Social Security and Medicare fiasco. Take note, this is what happens when government meddles in an individual’s personal life too much. Generations of people have been taught to rely on the government’s Social Security trust fund for their retirement. It would seem this has been all for naught. These same people are now struggling to make ends meet. As a matter of fact, the average retired worker will receive estimated monthly benefits of only $1,079 this year. That’s the average, folks. For most people, it does not get better than that, and for a lot of people it gets much worse.

I am not blaming the government, directly, for the current state of a person’s retirement lifestyle. What I am saying is that they have had a hand in it, indirectly, by teaching the populace to rely on them for so many years. The government’s responsibility lies in giving people a false sense of security. That being said, individuals must learn to take the blame for their circumstances. An individual’s vigilance, in their own financial security, is the only guarantee there truly is. It’s about time individuals stood up and took responsibility for themselves instead of being lazy and expecting someone else to do it for them. No more entitlement. No more crying about how they don’t understand stock markets, mutual funds, FOREX, bonds, or any other financial investments. If you don’t understand it, LEARN IT. Seriously. It’s YOUR future. Take control of your life.