Social Security Will Run Out Much Sooner Than Expected

 When Americans don’t have kids, abort millions of babies who would be in work force, and have millions of eligible workers refusing to get a job, it spells hard times for Social Security. Not enough folks paying into the system. Throw in a Covid shutdown and we are being told that the Trust Fund (is there any actual money in the trust fund or is that just filled with government IOUs) will not be able to pay projections in as little as 10 years.  The Democrats are screaming that Republicans “want to take/cut your social security”.  In fairness the Democrats are typically fiscal idiots who refuse to do a balance sheet but would rather vote financial issues with their feelings.  It’s why so many Democrat-run cities are fiscal nightmares.  “Wouldn’t it be nice if we could give every new mom and dad 12 weeks off work with full pay!  Wouldn’t if be nice if we forced all employers to give 20 weeks off with full pay to transgenders who need time to heal from top and bottom surgery”.  And yet most times they will refuse to discuss HOW they will pay for it.  SS has been increasing its benefit payouts while reducing the amount of workers paying in.  Also when it was put on the books the life expectancy of Americans was like 67.  Today it’s probably close to 83.  Some folks are now retired and claiming benefits for more years than they worked!  It’s broken but no one will be able to “fix” it unless they start raising the retirement age to 70 or 75 and maybe that’s exactly what will happen.  They raised normal retirement age to 67 about 20 years ago so why not do it again?

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Come 2034, unless Congress takes immediate action to shore up the deficiencies of the Social Security system, benefits will have to be cut to account for lower revenues. This will result in eligible beneficiaries only receiving at most 80 percent of their scheduled benefits.

Social Security’s financial situation started to really take a turn for the worse in 2021, when the fund started paying more in benefits than it received through payroll taxes and interest on the specially issued Treasury securities it holds in reserve. This has reduced the size of Social Security’s trust fund to $2.8 trillion last year from $2.9 trillion in 2020.

The old age and survivors insurance trust fund, the larger of the two, which pays benefits to retired workers, as well as the spouses and children of deceased workers, will be able to pay full benefits until 2033. This is one year earlier than the trustees’ report last year.

The disability fund has a later projected insolvency date. It is expected to be able to pay full benefits through at least 2097.

The report of the program’s annual trustees laid out two possible solutions to keep the program solvent. One is to raise taxes. An immediate, across-the-board increase of 3.44 percent to 15.84 percent – split between employees and employers – would keep the program solvent for the next 75 years. Right now, employees and employers each contribute about 6.2 percent of payroll taxes to Social Security, for a combined 12.4 percent tax rate.

The other solution is an immediate cut to benefits. Slashing how much Americans receive from Social Security benefits by 21.3 percent would put the program on sounder footing.

Despite calling Social Security one of the “bedrock programs that older Americans rely upon for their retirement security,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has refused to elaborate on any concrete plans the administration of President Joe Biden has on keeping the program fully funded.

“The Biden-Harris Administration is committed to ensuring the long-term viability of these critical programs so that retirees can receive the hard-earned benefits they’re owed,” said Yellen in a statement. Biden himself, without suggesting any proposals, called for protecting and strengthening the program.

https://www.naturalnews.com/2023-04-03-social-security-reserves-draining-fast-than-expected.html