ECON Social Security funds barreling toward insolvency without a fix

20Gauge

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
www.foxbusiness.com

Social Security funds barreling toward insolvency without a fix

The annual Social Security trustees' report this week said the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund is on track to reach insolvency in 2033.
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Social Security's trust funds are headed toward depletion, and without a fix from Congress, retirees will see steep payment cuts in less than a decade.


The annual Social Security trustees' report this week said the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is on track to reach insolvency in 2033, at which point benefits would be cut by 21%.


If Social Security's Disability Insurance trust fund were combined with the OASI fund, which would require a change in the law, the funds would be able to pay the total scheduled benefits until 2035. But if reforms are not implemented by that time, payees can expect a 17% reduction in their checks.

Following the release of the report, President Biden issued a statement saying he "will keep strengthening Social Security" and that he is "committed to extending Social Security solvency by asking the highest-income Americans to pay their fair share without cutting benefits or privatizing Social Security."

The president accused congressional Republicans of wanting to cut Social Security and increase the retirement age.

The U.S. has an aging population, more than 67 million of whom receive Social Security benefits. And the older an American is, the more likely they are to vote, so many politicians shy away from discussing reforms of the program at all.

But if no reforms are made, the same Americans who receive Social Security benefits now — particularly those who rely on the benefits — face a significant threat to their income come 2033.

GOP Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona, vice chair of Congress' Joint Economic Committee, also issued a statement after the report dropped, warning that current Social Security recipients are at risk and urging Republicans and Democrats to come together to work out a fix.

"The Social Security Trustees Report confirms that it’s no longer just future generations who should be concerned about receiving their full earned benefits but rather current retirees, too," Schweikert said. "As our nation’s fiscal health continues to deteriorate, Congress refuses to live up to its moral obligation to protect and modernize Social Security and Medicare. It’s past time for the political class to put aside their talking points and start working on bipartisan solutions to save these programs for our seniors… before it’s too late."

Nonpartisan groups weighed in on the report, too, pressing federal lawmakers to address the looming shortfalls.

"We have long known that Social Security is on an unsustainable financial path," said Jason Fichtner, chief economist at the Bipartisan Policy Center. "Today’s Social Security Trustees Report marks yet another year of inaction by lawmakers to protect this crucial program on which so many Americans depend."

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., discusses the Republicans' plan to save Social Security and reacts to Bernie Sanders' 32-hour workweek idea on 'Varney & Co.'

"Too few politicians are willing to propose serious reforms and make the difficult choices needed to strengthen and save the program," Fichtner continued. "Instead, leading voices on both sides of the aisle have buried their heads in the sand, proposing purely partisan policies or vowing not to touch the program."

Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, also issued a statement, saying, "The absurd part is that we’ve known insolvency was looming for quite some time. We’re driving straight into this mess despite all the warning bells and alarms that the Trustees and others have been ringing for decades now."

"Many political leaders in both parties, from the top on down, would rather demagogue the issue than actually fix it," she said.

"As we head into peak campaign season, it is our job as Americans and the voting public to ensure that we demand President Biden and President Trump present us with a realistic, detailed plan to avert trust fund insolvency," MacGuineas said. "And they need to work with Congress to implement a plan. Time is running out."
 
sssarawolf

sssarawolf

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Well Duh, they are putting people on S.S. that shouldn.t be on it, like ILLEGALS, also folks that move here from other countries, aren't citizens and turn 65 or 67, have never paid in and they get to be on it. :( Plus our good (snark) politicians take out of it anytime they want. Like old Nasty Nan did at the tune of of 2 billion.
 
ShadowMan

ShadowMan

Designated Grumpy Old Fart
How about we STOP sending TAXPAYER monies over seas to FOREIGN LANDS and take care of our own people FIRST!! And then......how about congress PAY BACK all the money THEY'VE STOLEN from Social in-Security, and even better yet, lets FORCE congress to give up all their "PRIVATE" retirement entitlements and make them rely only on Social in-Security. I bet they'd fix that system TOOT-SWEET!! :ld:
 
Josie

Josie

Has No Life - Lives on TB
20Gauge said:
This is usually a winner for Dims. They just have to say that Rhinos are willing for Grandma to starve and usually people vote Dim.

Not sure if it will work in this case, but who kno
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You're right in that it was a win for the democraps every time a repub even broached the subject of "fixing" SS, although I am very dubious of any fix by anyone in government. Now, with the unchecked invasion into this country I think people are waking up to the fact that just like the blacks, seniors have been used by the left to further their agenda. Used to win the race and then just tossed aside and ignored until the next race. Just another tool.
 
T

tanstaafl

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Social Security is insolvent every time social security taxes fall short of funding the immediate liability. The "trust fund" is an illusion because it's made up of imaginary bonds that can only be paid off by increasing future federal taxes in one form or another. There is no stash of cash in a bank or invested in the markets.
 
WildDaisy

WildDaisy

God has a plan, Trust it!
I started my career at 18 for a Financial planner and she was a wonderful mentor. She told me to put away starting then because Social Security would likely NOT be there for me when I was ready to retire. She told me as little as putting the price of one pizza away each paycheck would compound by the time I retired and I would be light years ahead of someone who started saving for retirement in their 30s or 40s. I will be 55 next year and she was right. Good thing I listened.
 
F

foreverkeeps

Veteran Member
I still say if it was used how was originally intended to give poor people money when they retire, instead of millionaires getting their Social Security, it could be fixed.
I mean, we all pay car insurance and homeowners insurance, but we never get it down back if we don’t have a claim, in other words, if we don’t need it.
 
Cacheman

Cacheman

Ultra MAGA!
Everything is barrelling toward insolvency.....

We are probably within 12 to 24 months of interest on the national debt exceeding Social Security as the largest expense in the govt budget.

Congress doesn't know how to cut spending. We are entering a doom loop where we have to borrow larger and larger amounts each year.

And interest on the debt is going to consume a larger and larger portion of our tax revenue, before anything else gets paid. Budget deficits are going to be massive.

The Fed will likely have to print (digitally) and monetize a huge portion of our national debt.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1789002239912120453
View: https://twitter.com/WallStreetSilv/status/1789002239912120453
 
33dInd

33dInd

Veteran Member
And
Think of all those workers,men and women, who paid into it for decades,as well as their employers
Who die before they qualify
All that money stays with the system
Not one single copper penny goes to the decedent family
 
B

Barry Natchitoches

Has No Life - Lives on TB
Disability specialist lawyer Walter Hnot warned earlier this week that by next year, THERE WILL BE MORE ILLEGALS ON SSI THAN AMERICAN DISABLED PERSONS!

Note: SSI is Supplemental Security Income, and is the program that provides disability checks to folks who have never worked, or did not work long enough to get SSDI (the disability program that workers pay into and apply for if they have to prematurely leave work because of illness or injury.)

The program that you and I paid into for years was the SSDI / SS Retirement program.

SSI payments are not funded through the trust fund, but instead, are funded through income tax payments and the Biden Printer Press.
 
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Kris Gandillon

Kris Gandillon

The Other Curmudgeon
_______________
Barry Natchitoches said:
Disability specialist lawyer Walter Hnot warned earlier this week that by next year, THERE WILL BE MORE ILLEGALS ON SSI THAN AMERICAN DISABLED PERSONS!

Note: SSI is Supplemental Security Income, and is the program that provides disability checks to folks who have never worked, or did not work long enough to get SSDI (the disability program that workers pay into and apply for if they have to prematurely leave work because of illness or injury.)

The program that you and I paid into for years was the SSDI / SS Retirement program.

SSI payments are not funded through the trust fund, but instead, are funded through income tax payments and the Biden Printer Press.
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And while SSI is administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA) it is NOT paid for out of social security funds.

SSI is funded from general tax revenue that comes from various taxes including personal and corporate income taxes.

SS Retirement, Disability and Survivor benefits are funded by specific payroll withholding taxes such as FICA and SECA. SSI is NOT funded from these payroll withholding taxes.
 
West

West

Senior
Right now it's only 15% of your income they steal from everyone working, granted your employer matches the 7.5% they steal directly from your labored income. However the match is still income that you earned. And it's called FICA taxes.

All government needs to do is raise that 15% to 25% but make your employer pay it. Or raise minimum wage to $100 a hour, that would do it. That would mean that every 40 hours of payroll the liability in just FICA taxes would be $1000 just to fund S.S. of FICA.

Bet some socialist bureaucrat loves my idea.

:D
 
Kris Gandillon

Kris Gandillon

The Other Curmudgeon
_______________
West said:
Right now it's only 15% of your income they steal from everyone working, granted your employer matches the 7.5% they steal directly from your labored income. However the match is still income that you earned. And it's called FICA taxes.

All government needs to do is raise that 15% to 25% but make your employer pay it. Or raise minimum wage to $100 a hour, that would do it. That would mean that every 40 hours of payroll the liability in just FICA taxes would be $1000 just to fund S.S. of FICA.

Bet some socialist bureaucrat loves my idea.

:D
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Eliminating the SS wage base cap would also help. Don’t know how much of the problem it would solve but taxing ALL those wages above $168,600 would add some possibly worthwhile amount.

Increasing the retirement age (again) is another avenue they will likely consider.
 
P

Publius

TB Fanatic
33dInd said:
And
Think of all those workers,men and women, who paid into it for decades,as well as their employers
Who die before they qualify
All that money stays with the system
Not one single copper penny goes to the decedent family
Click to expand...

Yep and they could not stand to see all that money building up so retires could get real cost of living adjustments, so they started the welfare system where blacks would get free everything handed to them and it all comes out of the social security system next we have all the illegal aliens coming into our country and 98% of them are not coming here to work but get everything handed to them including free very pricy medical care at our expense.
At one time democrats were borrowing from the SS system to fund pet project's and with the intent of never putting the money back so many million$ were never paid back.

One fix is illegal aliens are not U.S. Citizens and therefore not entitled to free hand outs from the Social Security System it is for U.S. citizen's only, right now the government is borrowing billion$ to do this.
Next get rid of the welfare system and they will have to grandfather people in for the rest of their lives, but by law everyone else may be entitled to some public support (public safety net) but cut off after three times that only last six months each time.
Blind, crippled and mentally handy caped people are the exception for free care (I think we can all agree on that). I know handy capped people that refuse to take welfare and it does not pay out enough for them to live on and again the system is being drained so they will have to make cuts to people that should be getting it.
 
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9

9idrr

Veteran Member
Kris Gandillon said:
Eliminating the SS wage base cap would also help. Don’t know how much of the problem it would solve but taxing ALL those wages above $168,600 would add some possibly worthwhile amount.

Increasing the retirement age (again) is another avenue they will likely consider.
Click to expand...
The only way I'd be okay with eliminatin' the cap would be to also remove the restriction on maximum benefits.
 
20Gauge

20Gauge

TB Fanatic
Millwright said:
The whole dayum .guv is insolvent.

$30 trillion in debt?

It's not even a shell game anymore, where they borrow money from one account to cover another.

If they report something like this, it's purely for propaganda purposes.
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$34 trillion now
 
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