"Walter Hart gives a very misleading view of how to interpret the functions of the survivors and disability insurance.
Mr. Hart did not show what the survivors benefits would be to his wife and children. Nor, did he calculate them with respect to the typical worker who dies at age 38."
My response:
I did not attempt to evaluate the amount of a survivorıs benefit to my wife or children. I really donıt know what the monthly benefit to them would be if I were to die today. All I attempted to show was what portion of my OASI taxes represented the *cost* of these benefits.
In that respect I wrote:
"But, for me, as a 38-year-old husband and father in 1997, there were only three (3) categories of benefits that conceivably could have applied to provide a benefit to my family or me. In decreasing order of magnitude, these are the benefits paid 1) to a Minor or Disabled Child of a Deceased Worker; (2) to a Widowed Mother or Father Caring for a Child Beneficiary; and 3) as a Death Benefit."
I tried as best I could to calculate cost of these benefits (as a portion of the 10.7% of payroll OASI taxes in 1997) as follows:
1. . 359% for the Minor or Disabled Children of Deceased Workers benefit
2. . 046% for the Widowed Mother or Father Caring for Child Beneficiary Under 16 years old; and,
3. . 006% for the Death Benefit.
So of the 10.7% of payroll taxes paid, the *cost* in terms of what percentage of payroll for survivors and death benefits for my family came to only .411% of payroll.
I have no opinion whether this is a good cost for these benefits or not. As I said, I donıt know what the monthly benefit to my family would be. What Iım saying is that it would not make much difference to me if you said to me, ³weıre going to keep providing these benefits to your family and continue to take .411 % of payroll from you to fund them.² Iıd probably say ³OK,² especially if it meant that the remaining 10.289% would be invested for retirement benefits for my wife and me. But on the other hand, no one makes any points with me to keep the current old age and elderly survivors benefits by proclaiming how my family is protected right now by social security.
If I missed something about what you meant about my argument being misleading, please let me know.
