Before long, those elected officials will be under intense pressure to break Social Security s promises. In 2013, America s 77 million baby boomers will begin retiring. This is not a matter of debate. The math just doesn t work anymore. In 1945, right before the baby boom, there were 42 workers paying taxes for each retired person collecting benefits.
Today there are a little more than three workers for each beneficiary.
Basically, if you re a Generation Xer or younger, you will personally be responsible for providing a retired person s entire benefits for six months of every year. We ve been blessed with a prosperous society and great medical technology so people can live much longer in retirement. Now let s recognize that the game has changed and improve our retirement financing while we have a few years before the crisis. Every person currently enrolled in Social Security would have the option to switch to a PSSA or to remain in the current system. All new workers entering the labor force would be given PSSAs instead of Social Security.