(04-03-2025, 07:28 PM)HereOnThePrimalEdge Wrote: Consumption by the elderly means the use of things like health care and federal benefits such as Medicare and Social Security, as well as of private assets such as housing and pensions."
Social Security & Medicare was paid for throughout a person’s working life. Supposedly invested in a safe government account. If a bank invested in an interest bearing account or real estate, would they be considered a drain on the economy, or a titan of industry?
Supposedly invested in a safe government account.
This is mostly a myth although partially true. Funds paid into SS are immediately used to pay current beneficiaries. The partially true part is that if there is a surplus, those funds are invested into US Treasury securities. As long as each generation creates more workers to support it than it's surviving members require, all is well. If your generation of Americans decided that it did not want so many children, a smaller pool of children now have to support a larger number of longer living kupuna. Pyramids are only sustainable as long as the base is growing. Social security more closely resembles a pyramid scheme than some "safe government account" that Uncle Sam has "invested". The "supposedly" part is right though.