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Retirement Age Social Security

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Retirement Age and Social Security Viability
In a topic so controversial that congressional aides have referred to it as the “third rail of American politics,” it is easy to shirk off the conversation about the sustainability of the American Social Security system (Safire 2007). But all the data suggests that it is sustainable only in the short-term. Without immediate incremental changes made to the full-retirement age, trust fund reserves that help pay for the program will become exhausted in twenty years, and the government will, for the first time since the founding of Social Security in 1935, not be able to pay in full on a timely basis.
But what is Social Security? Apart from being a power word thrown around the political arena, many Americans …show more content…

Economics is the study of human behavior, not unlike other academia subjects that claim this same broad definition. Behavioral economics relies on the subfields of economics that integrate within the insight of psychology (Mankiw, 2015).
Although real people are complex and imperfect, they should be viewed not as rational maximizers but satisfiers (Mankiw, 2015). Economists criticize psychological research for its failure to offer a coherent alternative to the rational agent model while producing lists of biases and errors (Kahneman, 2003). Behavior can be objectified; we all have different behaviors we deal with daily, and they can change abruptly for no reason. So while psychology and human behavior is irrational and unpredictable, our wants and desires on an economic level rarely change. In short, money talks.
Psychology and economics maintain a balanced focus based on certainties, facts, and trends but separate when applying mathematical or algorithmic computations. Economist rely more on quantitative based data and frequencies involving changing derivative markets, prediction models, as well as maximizing certain utilities and profits (Kessler …show more content…

Any changes to the age of full retirement must therefore be enacted before then.
Many in the SSA Office of Retirement and Disability Policy say the factors driving Social Security to its margins have to do with the United States’ changing population dynamic. As the population gets older and retires, there are fewer workers to pay into the SS/SSI system via payroll taxes. What used to be the viable ratio of 3.33 workers per beneficiary has fallen and will continue to fall until that ratio reaches two workers per beneficiary (2010). What this means is that by 2030, all working persons will need to contribute 33% more in payroll taxes just to keep the system alive as it was intended.
It is crucial for Americans to have a responsible discussion about the future of the SS/SSI programs. In the long term, spending per capita on health care will continue to surpass GDP growth per capita (Jacobs 2013). This is an unsustainable trend; therefore, one must consider the option of continuing to raise the full retirement age to 70

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