

Social Security is Not what's gonna kill the budget (CHART) - yp9990
http://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/the-fall-is-gonna-kill-you/

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muraiki
Richard Fisher, CEO of the Dallas Federal Reserve, pointed out the threat of
Medicare to the budget in 2008. As you can imagine, it's only gotten worse
since then:

"Please sit tight while I walk you through the math of Medicare. As you may
know, the program comes in three parts: Medicare Part A, which covers hospital
stays; Medicare B, which covers doctor visits; and Medicare D, the drug
benefit that went into effect just 29 months ago. The infinite-horizon present
discounted value of the unfunded liability for Medicare A is $34.4 trillion.
The unfunded liability of Medicare B is an additional $34 trillion. The
shortfall for Medicare D adds another $17.2 trillion. The total? If you wanted
to cover the unfunded liability of all three programs today, you would be
stuck with an $85.6 trillion bill. That is more than six times as large as the
bill for Social Security. It is more than six times the annual output of the
entire U.S. economy.

I want to remind you that I am only talking about the unfunded portions of
Social Security and Medicare. It is what the current payment scheme of Social
Security payroll taxes, Medicare payroll taxes, membership fees for Medicare
B, copays, deductibles and all other revenue currently channeled to our
entitlement system will not cover under current rules. These existing revenue
streams must remain in place in perpetuity to handle the “funded” entitlement
liabilities. Reduce or eliminate this income and the unfunded liability grows.
Increase benefits and the liability grows as well."

[http://www.dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2008/fs080528....](http://www.dallasfed.org/news/speeches/fisher/2008/fs080528.cfm)

