A Guest Post From J. Thomas Shaw

The Social Security System Will Collapse if

Life Expectancy Rates in America increase by 10%

And Your Government Will Never Allow That to Happen

The Social Security ACT was signed into law in 1935 as part of FDR's New Deal Program. The Act provided benefits to retirees when they turned 65.  In 1935, the average life expectancy was 58 for men and 62 for women, although those statistics are distorted in comparison to today's life expectancy rates as a result of the much higher infant mortality rates in that era.

For adults who lived past the age of 21 in 1935, the life expectancy is only 5 years less then it is today. Despite the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on medical research, a prescription medication available from Big Pharma for just about anything and everything that could ail a human, the mapping of the human genome, exponential gains in medical technology and understanding of the human body - with all of that, we have only added 5 years to the average life expectancy in the past seventy-seven years. 

And this does not even factor in all the lives saved due to better medical facilities, transportation of patients to special care facilities and the fact that much of the country residing in rural areas never even had access to hospitals for emergencies back in the 1930's.  If you factor these infrastructure enhancements into the equation, then a strong case could be made that without even one cent being spent on medical research, technology advancements and prescription drugs, that the life expectancy rate from the 1930's would be at or higher than it is today.

I find this incredible. This evidence strongly suggests that either the advancements made in medical science are providing no benefit to Americans or that there are opposing forces offsetting the advancements made in medical science so that the life expectancy rates do not rise.

And there is irrefutable evidence to the fact that there have been significant advancements in medical science over the past 77 years and these advancements have saved millions of lives - at least temporarily.  Therefore, it can be concluded that it is a fact that there must be opposing forces offsetting the advancements made in medical science and these forces are keeping the average life span of Americans from increasing.

Why would anyone want to keep the average life expectancy of Americans from increasing?

There are currently over 54 million people receiving social security benefits at an annual cost in excess of $700 billion. Each and every day, in excess of 11,000 Americans become eligible for social security benefits and this trend is expected to continue for another 19 years due to the aging of the baby boomer generation.  At the same time, only 2,000 Americans receiving benefits are passing away and, as a result, losing their benefit checks.

According to the Social Security board of trustees, in 1945, there were 41.9 covered workers (people paying into the social security system) for every person receiving benefits.  By 2010, that figure had dropped all the way down to 1.75 full-time private sector workers per social security recipient. 

At this coverage ratio, the social security system is already in danger of collapsing. Now imagine what would happen to the already maligned social security system if people started living an extra 5, 10 or even 15 years. I can tell you that this would quickly reduce the coverage ratio to a number less than one worker per one beneficiary and, at that point, social security would be officially bankrupt. Chaos would follow.

In my new thriller, The RX Factor, some very smart individuals have imagined such a scenario and are taking steps today to make sure the American way of life does not change.

Stay Healthy my friends - and avoid Big Pharma

J. Thomas Shaw