Good Wednesday Morning!

1. Question – Where are we going to get the money?

2. Thought – The Social Security Administration’s website traces the history of the program to the years after the Civil War. Causalities on both sides were enormous; the toll left hundreds of thousands of widows, orphans, and disabled servicemen. This large and largely unemployable population required considerable government assistance and led to the creation of a federally sponsored pension program for soldiers. Yet, no non-military safety net for retired Americans would come about for another 60 years.

Social Security’s rather humble beginnings pale in comparison to the gigantic federal entitlement it is today. Growth has been rapid and clearly unsustainable. Consider the trajectory of benefits paid over the past 73 years:

Total benefits paid: 1940:$35 million

                                1950:$961million

                                1960:$11.2 billion

                                1970:$31.9 billion

                                1980:$120.5 billion

                                1990:$247.8 billion

                                2009:$685.8 billion

                                2012:$760 billion

​Total benefits paid for 2009 appear here for a reason: this was the last year Social Security collected more in taxes than it paid out in benefits. As such, 2012 marked the beginning of a cash flow deficit that Social Security’s trustees and the Congressional Budget Office believe will last for the next 75 years, and probably never end. In fact, the latest estimates have the annual deficit growing every year for the next 18 years, when it will level off at approximately $350 billion dollars a year (in 2010 numbers). (America: Hope for Change​ by Robert Ehrlich)

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​”The ultimate determinate in the struggle now going on for the world will not be bombs and rockets but a test of wills and ideas – a trail of spiritual resolve; the values we hold, the beliefs we cherish and the ideas to which we are dedicated.”​ (Ronald Reagan)

This book came about because of when I was on a running machine watching C-Span and saw Robert Ehrlich speaking and I said, “Whoa – who is this guy?” He offers 7 chapters in this book about problems and gives viable solutions for our problems. I suggest you read this book, journal his ideas and ask our congressional delegates what they are doing about our social contract, our uncertain fiscal future, our insecure culture, our economic security, our national security and identity, our healthcare, and our no so social Social Security.