Is it sustainable? I'm really asking the question because I don't know. Is your system solvent over the long term? Our attempt at social security will go bankrupt within decades. I consider social security just a tax that I will never recoup. The system will be bankrupt long before I am scheduled to get anything out of it. That makes my effective tax rate something like 43%, I believe.



I'll grant you that that's a very positive way of looking at it. But when I have to write a check to the government for tens of thousands of dollars, I tend to wonder what I'm getting back. Not a whole lot other than roads and security--and that should cost a lot less than what I'm paying. I'm sure someone else is enjoying my money, though. But if they're using it to buy beer or are getting free health care that I personally have to pay for or are getting retirement benefits that I will never get myself, that does not seem inherently fair to me. Even if I might be earning "a lot of money," that doesn't provide any moral justification for me funding someone else's life.

Regards,
Craig Steiner