The Social Security Iceberg Gets Closer
With all the enthusiasm of a madman, the U.S. continues to barrel toward history's most predictable crisis. Social Security is now expected to be insolvent in 2033, necessitating a 23% cut in benefits. The Medicare hospital fund will run out the same year, requiring an 11% spending cut. That's according to annual reports Wednesday by the official trustees.
These projections are notably worse than last year's. The blow to Social Security benefits is two percentage points higher, and the default date is three quarters nearer. One factor cited by the trustees is that Congress, in its infinite generosity with other people's money, recently passed the deceptively named Social Security Fairness Act, topping up benefits for state and local government workers. The Medicare depletion day has moved three years earlier, owing to higher actual and expected costs.
Those exact figures and dates move around somewhat, including based on how the economy is faring, so don't take them as gospel. But the larger picture, which has been obvious for years, is that America's retirement programs are on a unsustainable path and need to be reformed to be saved.
Yet President Trump campaigned on never touching Social Security and Medicare. Perhaps he was sold a delusion that it would be possible to balance the books by going after fraud, such as all of those alleged 150-year-olds on benefits that Elon Musk kept insisting exist. Or maybe Mr. Trump thinks the political challenge is too great given that Democrats are utterly cynical in the way they accuse the GOP of pulling the plug on grandma.
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