Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) in his town meeting about Social Security reform, touted individual stock and bond accounts as a way younger workers can more than double their future benefits and put up a photograph of Albert Einstein along with his quote about the powerful force of compound interest.
It got me to thinking about the National Debt and compound interest. Today the national debt is $7,700 Billion. At an interest rate of 4% and a yearly deficit of $400 Billion:
In 2018 when the Social Security Surplus fund starts living off of its interest, the national debt will be approaching $20 Trillion Dollars;
In 2042 when the Social Security Trust fund is running low on funds the Federal Debt will be $67 Trillion Dollars and interest payments will be $3.5 Tillion Dollars per year;
In 2052 when only 80% of Social Security benefits can be paid the Federal Debt will be $104.5 Trillion Dollars, with interest payments of over $4 Trillion dollars per year.
Where is the "crisis"? In Social Security or with the GOP deficits?