The trustees of Social Security and Medicare now estimate that the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2040 while the Medicare trust fund will be depleted in 2018, slightly sooner than previously forecast…
…The term “trust fund exhaustion” does not mean that there are no funds available – rather, it means that the system will be able to pay out only a percentage of promised benefits…
…The report also estimates, as it did last year, that come 2017 Social Security will no longer be taking in enough payroll tax to pay all promised benefits and will need to tap the special-issue bonds that make up its trust fund. In order to make good on repaying those bonds, the federal government will have to borrow more money, raise taxes, cut spending elsewhere or reduce benefits.
This is the case across the board, costs are increasing, benefits are decreasing, and everyone is having a hard time justifying paying their taxes.
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Comments ( 2 )
That last statement from the quote says it all. There isn’t a trust fund. The funds are comingled with the federal budget which is already bleeding. The system goes into the red in 11 years and deficits will soar.
John Robb added these pithy words on
May 03 06 at
3:06 pm
So what, about 15-20 years before the system undergoes a major shift?
Shloky added these pithy words on
May 04 06 at
9:01 pm
