Economics: Tax system?

Question

1. The chapter states that the elderly population in the United States is growing more rapidly than the total population. In particular, the number of workers is rising slowly, while the number of retirees is rising quickly. Concerned about the future of Social Security, some members of Congress propose a “freeze” on the program.
If total expenditures were frozen, what would happen to benefits per retiree? To tax payments per worker?(Assume that Social Security taxes and receipts are balanced in each year.)
I think that the benefits per retiree would be zero and the tax payments per worker would be zero for social security payments. Is this correct?

2. Looking at the combined expenditures of the federal government and state and local governments, how have the relative shares of transfer payments and purchases of goods and services changed over time?

Answer 1

If total expenditures were frozen, then benefits per retiree would go down (not to zero though). The payments per worker would also go down (since your problem states that the number of workers is rising, albeit slowly)
I'd be very surprised in anyone in Congress advocating freezing total Social Security spending. What they might propose to do is eliminate or reduce cost of living adjustments (COLAs), whereby each Social Security recipient gets more than they did last year. In a system where COLAs are frozen at 0%, benefits per retiree would stay constant, and payments per worker would go up