Jbelkin
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the National Bureau of Economic Research that says the illness has killed so many Americans that it’s provided a temporary increase in Social Security benefits since there aren’t as many people around to receive the money.
The National Bureau of Economic Research estimates that since COVID killed around 1.7 million Americans aged 25 and older between 2020 and 2023, Social Security won’t need to pay out retirement benefits to those people, seeing as they are dead, which increased the Social Security fund by $294 billion.
Of course, some of that gain is offset by the reduction in tax revenue ($58 billion) since those people are not alive enough to pay taxes anymore. Also, the government has to pay out survivor benefits.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/covid-killed-so-many-americans-social-security-shot-up-205-billion/
stoots24
Trump's plan all along!!! lol
TremulousGirthquake
Soc. Sec. Isn’t going to be a thing much longer, this administration is stealing every bit of the future you thought you were securing
RiddingBean
Dead people aren’t alive enough to pay taxes. 😂
Cloud9Light
Uh-oh...you're worth more dead than alive...not good...
trinxter
Guess what? COVID was pretty mild compared to what could happen.
rubypilgrim
oh, there's all kinds of fun in store: https://www.yahoo.com/news/nato-ally-buy-buy-buy-174149642.html
nicelyvillainous
Again, the real question is how many of the people who had it in their 20s and 30s will have to retire in their 50’s instead of working into their 70’s due to the permanent lung/heart/brain damage from it.
So this may be an on-paper boost that disappears quickly.
It’s hard to get clear data on it, but personally I tend to think a big chunk of why the eugenics movement gained traction was due to people with permanent damage from Spanish Flu, because it was so traumatizing no one talked abt it.
jridley
Congress sees that and says "Cool, another $205 billion we can steal and fork into pork projects in my home district if I get the right kickbacks."
Musk sees that and says "How can I get that in my pocket?"
rubypilgrim
It's a wash, due to the loss of tax income from those missing workers. The people you want to count are the dead seniors and those who died in their last decade of working life. They paid into the fund their entire working lives and now won't collect. That money technically would be available to support future retirees, if Congress leaves it alone.
nicelyvillainous
No, that’s actually accounted for in the number, it’s 2.95 billion saved in payments, minus 0.9 billion in lost payments, along with increased survivor benefit payments. Because it mostly killed older people.
But what it did leave out is how the health effects on people who didn’t die, will affect how much they earn/when they retire, because we can’t know that yet.
So how many people who got it at 45, will be retiring at 55 instead of 65 because of the lung/heart damage
jaakkopaakkonen
Psssh. And then people question Trump's ability to cut down the expenses. The only person who truly contributed into saving that 200+ billion was Trump!
killbillsexwife
And that’s the money which is going to be stolen. Placing I into a ‘sovereign wealth fund’
ThisPleasesTheSlug
One of a few benefits from the Boomer Doomer.
Frogyz
Not entirely sure that people dying for money is a benefit.
DKConstant
You'll never make CEO with that attitude.
RevRagnarok
A good chunk were deniers and antivax, so fuckem.
KillingTlme
Sounds like time for another Tax Cut for the Billionaires!
torokunai
Corona hit the elderly hard so it did "save" that much. But $300B isn't all that much for a program paying out $1.5T/yr this year and a lot more 10 years from now
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/W823RC1
FierceAndAdorable
Exactly why the 47th administration is trying to find away to funnel it into their own pockets
LivingDeadX
And now we see the real plan this administration has for the nation to reduce spending. No healthcare... keep 'em sick... and when they die, they no longer collect any federal benefits. Problem solved.
Their "final solution," if you will.
bortlp
"...not alive enough to pay taxes..."
ThomasTheWankEnglne
wadatahmydamie
foxpotate
Be real. If trump had taken covid seriously: there is almost a 100% chance he would have nuked major cities and china to "contain the outbreak" and "retaliate" because "its like resident evil with numbers nobody's ever seen before."
You know how he is. Remember when he said to "inject bleach" and stick lightbulbs up the ass?
RoutemasterFlash
Er, you do realise the president doesn't literally have the ability to unilaterally launch a nuclear strike? It has to be agreed by the joint chiefs of staff and go through them to the personnel concerned.
There's simply no way in hell they'd have done that.
nicelyvillainous
My dude, if he had directly called launch silos and ordered it, you know there is a solid chance of it.
Similarly, he could have done what he did recently with the Eric Adam’s case: fire his way through generals until he gets one that will agree.
DemonicFruitfly
Bleach is the most common household disinfectant, and one of the briefers that day had said that bleach kills the virus very quickly on surfaces. So, the Idiot in Chief then says...
TheMoonBnuuy
I don't recall him saying anything about light bulbs, but I do recall him talking about getting sunlight into the body... I figure he means to vivisect people outdoors at noon in the desert sun... I suggest he volunteer to be first.
rubypilgrim
yeh, he talked about ultraviolet light. Still a moron.
skrittlecakeandtoejam
Too bad mucks has all of it
doesntmattet4
You mean the vaccine killed so many. /s
SavageDrums
Sweet, that'll be good tax cut for the wealthy money!
todaytomorrowwillbeyesterday
This is surprising to y'all? Aids was the exact same thing. Culling the population. All pensions & 401's are at risk of not paying out. The math just doesn't work. So, they'll cull the population for economic reasons. In another 15 years there will be another massive infectious disease to do exactly the same. After the industrial revolution unsustainable pensions were awarded with little introspect of the program's ability to pay out to a longer living group that would've died decades earlier