How Immigrants Will Save Social Security

[MachineGhost]

Contrary to the myth advanced by opponents of reform that illegal immigrants don’t contribute their fair share in taxes, and drain government benefits, the reality is that undocumented workers are helping to keep the social security trust fund in the black. They do this because they are paying into the system typically with false social security numbers, which means they will never collect benefits. Their money, often collected for many years, helps keep the system afloat and benefits flowing to aging baby boomers.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... urity.html

[murphy_p_t]

right...bcuz all of a sudden the govt will enforce the law. got it.

[Jan Van]

Interesting.

Common sense is too often in short supply in the emotional debate over immigration reform and Obama’s executive action.

Now why would they say that? 

Stephen Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration, told the Daily Beast, “Even as it stands under current policy, unauthorized immigrants contribute positively to the financing of social security not only in terms of their own contributions, but in the succeeding generations when they have children on our soil that are citizens from day one.”?

[murphy_p_t]

Quote

    Stephen Goss, chief actuary for the Social Security Administration, told the Daily Beast, “Even as it stands under current policy, unauthorized immigrants contribute positively to the financing of social security not only in terms of their own contributions, but in the succeeding generations when they have children on our soil that are citizens from day one.”?

sounds nice, but i have some questions.

-as even PBS has reported, SS is a ponzi scheme today. Is expanding the pool of low-wage folks drawing from SS going to increase or reduce the longevity of this scheme?
-What is the median wage earned under which beneficiaries draw more benefits than they paid in during their working years?
-What is the median wage of those born here to illegal-immigrants parents and does it exceed number from the previous question?
-Is there any reasonable expectation that the children of illegals will pay more into SS than they draw in retirement? If so, what is the basis?

And finally, what is the impact on legal, unskilled labor wages in this country?

[WiseOne]

According to the article, 5% of the US workforce consists of undocumented immigrants, and 38% of those pay SS taxes.  That adds up to just 1.9% of the workforce.  Further, it's highly likely that they pay less SS taxes than the average US worker, since I presume they're mostly on the bottom of the wage scale.

This is hardly keeping the SS system afloat.  Further, their contributions are likely more than balanced by their use of expensive social services (e.g. emergency rooms), welfare for the kids they have on U.S. soil who are therefore citizens, etc.

I just perused the article quickly but it looks like mainly a propaganda piece to me.

[invst65]

If they are paying into the SS system now but with no promise of receiving benefits in the future (using false SS#'s I guess), then I can see how that would be a net positive for the SS system. If you make them eligible to receive benefits then my guess is they are likely to receive far more in benefits than they paid in as the system was designed from the beginning to be progressive with low wage earners getting a better deal than those with higher wages.

A question I have is what is going to happen to the contributions they have already made under bogus SS#'s? Are they going to be given credit for these? If so, then they will become eligible for disability payments when they have credit for 10 years in the system and that is already a drag on the system without adding illegals to the mix.

[MachineGhost]

A question I have is what is going to happen to the contributions they have already made under bogus SS#'s? Are they going to be given credit for these? If so, then they will become eligible for disability payments when they have credit for 10 years in the system and that is already a drag on the system without adding illegals to the mix.

Yeah, once they go legal and have a SSN, they have to work with the SSA to untangle their earnings record from the bogus SSN.

[invst65]

Yeah, once they go legal and have a SSN, they have to work with the SSA to untangle their earnings record from the bogus SSN.

Okay, sounds good, but wouldn't it be more fair if Obama's executive order gave those of us who are already citizens at least one free felony in filing false statements with the government before we get prosecuted for it?

[MachineGhost]

ACTC already pays huge amounts to illegal aliens holding only ITINs—$4.2 billion in 2010, according to the Treasury Department’s own inspector general.

WTF?  I thought illegal-undocumented-alien immigrants were not able to receive any Federal benefits.  Is this yet another travesty for the sad sack the IRS is?

EDIT: This was an opinion piece.