Trego's Mountain Ear

I ran across a good article that explains the insecurity of Social Security.  A lot of the time I run across articles written by alarmists.  This one seems to just calmly describe why the Social Security system is facing major problems in the next 10 years, and how correcting those should have been done earlier.

If you don’t need excerpts to convince you to click the link, click it now.  If you need convincing to click it, stay with me.  It is really worth reading the whole thing.

Social Security started in 1935 – so, by the time it starts feeling the pinch (2033) it will have had essentially a hundred year run.  As government programs go, that isn’t bad – generally politicians can’t see much further than the next election. 

Here’s the first fact from the article:  “In 2024, Social Security will collect $1.308 trillion in payroll taxes (and related revenues) and spend $1.459 trillion in benefits. The resulting $151 billion shortfall will be funded by deficit spending that contributes to the national debt. Because the Social Security system ran $3 trillion in surpluses from 1983 to 2009, it is legally entitled to run $3 trillion in deficits until these two figures balance out, which is currently expected to occur in 2033.”  That’s 9 years down the road.  It may or may not be in my lifetime – but 2033 is not all that long from today. 

The second fact from the article: “Current law mandates that when the trust fund balance hits zero—which is when the $3 trillion in earlier surpluses has been repaid—the system will be legally forbidden from borrowing or receiving any more general revenues. Program spending must then fall to match the system’s revenues, and that will mean an automatic across-the-board 23 percent benefit cut.”

And a third brief fact to convince you to click the link and read the whole article:  “From 2023 to 2053, Social Security is projected to collect $69 trillion in payroll and benefit taxes, while spending $92 trillion on benefits.”  Click the link – it may take ten minutes to read the article, and it is well worth reading.

It’s been a long time since Ernest Ackerman got the first Social Security check (for 17 cents).