Economist estimates...

[Hannah Bell]

...cost of Iraq war to exceed $3 trillion

On Thursday, Joseph Stiglitz told the congressional Joint Economic Committee that $3 trillion was at the low end of estimated war costs. High estimate is 5 trillion dollars.

Current debt owed to the Social Security Trust Fund is about 2 trillion dollars.

This is the debt some say can't be paid over the est. 30 years of the boomers' retirement, & supposedly necessitates changes in Social Security, tax hikes or benefit cuts.

Discuss.

[nightrider767]

1. It will be paid back in full....

When the dollar collapses as the world reserve currency, people will have wheel barrels full of worthless dollars to barter with, our debts will be wiped clean, and the American experiment will be over.

[ticktockman]

2. Prepare for skyrocketing debt

Current debt owed to the Social Security Trust Fund is about 2 trillion dollars.

This is the debt some say can't be paid over the est. 30 years of the boomers' retirement, & supposedly necessitates changes in Social Security, tax hikes or benefit cuts.

You're correct that there is currently about 2 trillion dollars in the trust fund. However, I think that the tax hikes and/or benefit cuts are usually discussed as being needed once all of the debt is paid back and the Social Security Trust Fund is exhausted. The most recent Trustees Report projects that this will happen in 2041. Still, there are a number of people who are starting to complain about the mere prospect of repaying the debt.

In any case, the most recent U.S. Budget projects that the federal debt will skyrocket over the next 70 years. The following graph shows those projections:



The actual numbers and sources are at http://home.att.net/~rdavis2/pro2009.html and a discussion of various measures of the debt can be found at http://usbudget.blogspot.com . As can be seen from the above graph, we don't have $3 trillion to spare. We will pay a serious price for this debt in higher interest costs and added strain on the nation's finances. And this is all happening at the exact wrong time, on the cusp of the Boomer retirement.