Social Security and Medicare are funded equally by the employer and employee. Currently, 7.5% is paid by both the employee and employer. This is the FICA withholding on most paychecks. These two programs are going to be the programs that will eventually bankrupt and destroy America. The current demographics of America show an aging population and pretty soon, most baby boomers will retire and start withdrawing benefits. Back with the program was launched, there were about 15 workers paying into social security for every one person that was withdrawing benefits. However today, there are only about two or three workers paying into the program for every one beneficiary. Currently, the federal government spends $900 billion a year on social security and over $1 trillion a year on Medicare/Medicaid. Currently, the federal government doesn’t take in enough tax money to cover all of federal spending. Each year, the federal government runs a deficit of at least $500 billion. These programs are unsustainable and the administrations openly admit it. On every social security statement a citizen gets, there is a sentence that explains that the program will not be able to pay out 100% of the benefits promised by about the year of 2038 without significant changes to the system. I’ve been told that people under the age of 45 should not count on getting anything from social security.
At the current trajectory, men in the millennial generation will pay 7.5% of their wages for a benefit they will probably never get to enjoy. Even if the programs are still in place by the year 2050, they will be significantly more inadequate than they are today. For this reason, I think the FICA should be renamed the KTBBA tax. Keep the Baby Boomers Alive tax is a more honest name for the program. These two programs stole our futures before the day we were even born.
If I couldn’t spread peace abroad, I had a sillier more off the wall idea. I thought about joining the Mormon religion and see if I could be deployed as an elder and spread the gospel to other countries. I’d feel like an absolute reprehensible jerk for using a religion to my own selfish means, however I liked the idea of free room and board. This idea didn’t last long as later I found out that Mormon missionaries do not go on these trips for free. A neighbor of mine told me that he spend $10000 to spread the gospel to communities in Argentina.
April arrived, and I was called in for a job interview as a staff accountant. The job I applied to did not list a salary but I assumed the range would be around $45000. The interesting thing about this interview was that it was held at a hotel. I never attended an interview that was not held at the job site. I was interviewed by the CFO and the Marketing Director of the company and I was grateful that I didn’t have to deal with anyone from human resources. So, the interview progressed and I did my best to engage both of them. We reviewed my resume and I asked them questions about how employees were successful at their organization. As a company, they specialized in telecommunications. As they catered to an international market, their flagship product was to sell prepaid phone service to end customers that wanted to make phone calls internationally. Their other strong product was to let customers recharge mobile phones. As the interview continued, I wanted to show that I could add as much value to the company. I made sure to ask them what sort of certifications would an accountant pursue to bring value to the company. Shortly after, they asked me what I was expecting for compensation. I stated that I was expecting a salary of $45000 because that was the median income for a staff accountant. In a desperate gamble, I stated that I was actually grateful making the salary from my previous job which was the equivalent of almost $37000 per year. The interview concluded shortly afterwards with no indication of taking a written assessment. I thought it was a little odd but I didn’t bother to ask about it as I had no faith in passing it. I did ask if they interviewed candidates multiple times and they said there would be no need for another interview. I took that as an indication that they were not impressed by my performance and would just pass me over for the position. For this reason, I didn’t even bother to follow up with them or call them back.
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