Answer: Almost twice as much as the government claims. Using the conventional method used by the Trustees, the present value of our unfunded Social Security liability is $25 trillion – more that the entire U.S. gross domestic product. But this measure ignores the fact that our obligation to retirees is actually quite risky – owing to uncertainty about future wage growth and future rates of inflation. Using market based measures to evaluate this uncertainly, economist Laurence Kotlikoff and his colleagues estimate that the true liability is $48 trillion. More
How Much Does Social Security Really Cost?
John C. Goodman is President of the Goodman Institute and Senior Fellow at The Independent Institute. His books include the soon-to-be-published updated edition of Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis, the widely acclaimed A Better Choice: Healthcare Solutions for America, and New Way to Care: Social Protections that Put Families First. The Wall Street Journal and National Journal, among other media, have called him the “Father of Health Savings Accounts.”
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