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In sum, this Court has determined the terms of the Thompson
settlement. Our decisions in these cases will apply those terms
to test case and nontest case petitioners alike. Subject to the
review of the Court of Appeals, our opinion and decisions will
provide the template for the disposition of the more than 1,300
pending cases in the Kersting project.
The thoughts underlying the foregoing comments have informed
our effort not only to determine and apply the terms of the
Thompson settlement, but also our effort to put petitioners, to
the extent possible and practicable, in positions similar to that
provided by the Thompson settlement. Although it may be
impossible to put petitioners in the same position, financial or
otherwise, the Thompsons were in 15 to 20 years ago, we observe
that the Code provisions for interest on deficiencies and
overpayments,38 in which are embedded the time value of money
principles that underlie all financial planning,39 provide the
only available appropriate means of approximating the desired
equivalence.40
38Secs. 6601, 6611.
39See generally, e.g., Brealey & Myers, Principles of
Corporate Finance (7th ed. 2003).
40Gokhale & Smetters, “Measuring Social Security’s Financial
Outlook within an Aging Society”, Daedalus 91-92 n.2 (Winter
2006), comment that discounting to present value, an operation
integral to giving effect to the time value of money, makes it
possible “to place dollars accruing at different points in time
(continued...)
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