henry (01/23/83)
It is worth noting that the originators of the Social Security system always expected that it would eventually have to be financed partly out of general tax revenues. The idea was that payroll taxes eventually would pay only perhaps half of the bill. It is also worth noting that Social Security was *NEVER* intended to be suitable as the sole support for elderly people. It was conceived as a supplement to generally-inadequate private pensions, not as a replacement for them. Looking at the history of S.S. actually is quite interesting; the people who set it up were both politically astute and very intelligent. The plan was deliberately organized to inhibit political interference and empire-building. The biggest reason why S.S. is not a savings bank -- i.e. today's payroll taxes pay today's benefits -- is that this method avoids huge accumulations of money and the power struggles that would develop over control of such funds. Planning to work til I drop... Henry Spencer U of Toronto