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As usual, WTFuddlebrain doesn't have a clue. He doesn't understand simple concepts like the time value of money. He thinks an actuary is someone who owns a funeral home. So when he says everyone will take out more in Medicare benefits than they paid in, he doesn't know what he is talking about. Here is why:
A typical couple retiring next year will have paid roughly $140,000 in lifetime Medicare taxes and premiums, and will receive nearly $430,000 in Medicare benefits. That's all fagboy tells you. Here's what he leaves out:
If the couple had invested the $140,000 in equal annual deposits of $3,500 over a 40-year working career starting at age 25, and earned a return of 5% a year, they would have accrued a fund of $423,000 when they retired at 65. And since they wouldn't spend the entire fund at age 65 but would draw it down as needed in retirement, the fund would continue to accrue substantial additional gains in their remaining years.
Of course, you can play around with the assumptions and get slightly different results – e.g. assume a higher or lower annual return, or gradually increasing contributions over their working years (instead of a flat $3,500) – but the principle is the same. In present value terms, dollars put into the system years ago are worth much more than dollars taken out today or tomorrow.
So don't let fagboy call you a leech or a hypocrite for advocating government spending curbs while seeking to protect some or all of your Medicare. Properly calculated on a conservative actuarial return basis, many (if not most) of you will have paid in as much as you will take out.
Of course, the feds are not really investing your Medicare taxes as they should be doing in the above example, but that is a topic for follow-up discussion. We mustn't confuse WTFuglyass by raising too many issues at once.
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