In the movie Logan’s Run when you reach the ripe old age of 30 the little light on your hand starts flashing red and you need to report to Carousel so you can ascend to a higher plane. It’s not what actually happens but that’s what people have been brainwashed to believe. We may need to implement this protocol in the United States, if what the Wall Street Journal reports is true.
Social Security is expected to deplete the fund that helps pay out retirement benefits by late 2032, the program’s trustees said Tuesday.
That is earlier than their projection last year of 2033, partly because the fund expects to collect less revenue after President Trump’s new tax law. Passed last summer, the law gave senior citizens an extra deduction that reduced taxes on benefits for many Social Security recipients.
Revenues are also shrinking because declining fertility rates and immigration are reducing tax revenue by cutting the number of workers paying into the system, according to the trustees.
The trustees reduced their long-term expectations for fertility rates on Tuesday, indicating they will remain lower for longer than previously projected.
Social Security’s finances have long been under pressure due to the aging of the population. The huge baby boom generation is entering or in retirement, when they would typically begin drawing Social Security.
Unless Congress shores up the retirement program, the depletion of reserves would trigger a 22% reduction in benefits in late 2032. Because incoming payroll tax revenue doesn’t fully cover promised benefits, the program is forced to make up the difference by pulling money from its two Social Security trust funds—one for disability benefits and the other for the larger program for retirees.
The Wall Street Journal (free link)
We can define the Logan’s Run Protocol as the Controlled Age-Related Recycling for Optimal Urban Sustainability and Economic Longevity, or C.A.R.O.U.S.E.L. I used my friendly neighborhood ChatGPT to come up with that one.
I know given my advanced age I’ll have to start lining up soon, but hey, it works! We won’t go broke. It probably also solves a lot of the worries about homelessness and drug abuse. It’s a one-size-fits-all solution for our economic woes.