It’s becoming an annual “surprise” announcement — social security is going to fail even sooner than previously predicted. In this latest revision, three years sooner.
Meanwhile our ruling Nero’s fiddle away in D.C.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303592404577362052094040414.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_5
WALL ST JOURNAL
April 24, 2012
Stress Rises on Social Security
Report Says Program Will Exhaust Reserves Three Years Earlier Than Expected
By DAMIAN PALETTA
Social Security, which pays retirement and disability benefits to 56 million Americans, will exhaust its reserves by 2033, three years sooner than previously estimated, a new government report said Monday.
The forecast raises pressure on the White House and Congress to tackle the entitlement program, which many politicians fear changing because of potential voter backlash.
The trustees who oversee Social Security’s two trust funds—one for disability benefits, the other for retirees—said reserves for the fund that pays disability benefits would be exhausted by 2016, two years earlier than projected last year. And if the disability fund were combined with the larger fund that pays retiree benefits, all reserves would be exhausted by 2033, three years sooner than projected last year.
Social Security and Medicare, the government-run health plan for senior citizens, are together the largest U.S. public benefit programs and account for one-third of the federal budget. The programs’ costs are projected to grow rapidly because of the aging U.S. population and, in Medicare’s case, the rising cost of health care.
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To read the full WSJ article, go to the link above.