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Compulsory pension insurance for USA - check whether Uncle Sam plunders you like Vater Staat does

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yetanotherquant

Joined
8/8/10
Messages
343
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53
Hi there,

recently I have implemented a pension calculator according to German mortality* table and compared which pension I would have got, if not contributed to the state pension system but saved by myself.
The result was very sad: the father state (Vater Staat) robs me! What it promises to pay is even less than I expect to contribute (and this is in the sense of nominal value, not present value!)

I encourage you to check whether the same is true for USA. I have implemented a calculator according to the SSA Life* Table
By the way, in Germany one can (so far) become a contractor and avoid the robbery.

*in Germany they call it mortality table (Sterbetafel) and in USA it is life table.
Quite a good sign for culture differences ;)
 
In such cases, you need to have a person who would tell you how to behave in such situations.
 
If you think the German state robs you (which it probably does), the US system is even worse. Social security contributions are essentially just another tax, which the federal government spends whichever way it pleases. Then the social security payments you receive are not indexed to real inflation but rather to the bogus official figure. In terms of real purchasing power, you become poorer by the year. Of course the social security payments are taxed as well.
 
I am beyond retirement age and no plans to retire (BTW I can't be fired). Looking back on many gov schemes (at least one was officially PONZI) I can say without reservation that they are out to fleece me,
 
Last edited:
Daniel Duffy said:
I am beyond retirement age and no plans to retire (BTW I can't be fired). Looking back on many gov schemes (at least one was officially PONZI) I can say without reservation that they are out to fleece me,
Click to expand...

The US system is definitely a Ponzi scheme. But to keep a Ponzi scheme running you need more and more people entering the scheme to pay off the earlier people. That's not happening in the USA. And of course -- not that I need to mention it -- young people entering the workforce these days are not being paid in real terms what young people were being paid a generation or two ago. Hence lower contributions to the social security kitty (which gets stolen and pilfered from in any case). As GWB pointed out 20 years ago, there's no money in the social security fund -- just IOUs. I just see the system as extortion backed by the power of the US state.
 
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