The Social Security system is in trouble. It’s not just a future problem; America’s retirement insurance program is in trouble now. The federal government will start dipping into its Social Security savings account this year to help pay retirement benefits to millions of Americans.
In 2018, the federal government expects to receive about $2 billion less in payroll taxes and investment income than it will need to pay workers through the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program. If nothing changes, that savings account will run dry by 2034, right around when the last of the baby boomers reach retirement age. After that, the government will only have enough money to pay retirees and disabled workers 79 cents for every dollar they’re owed.
These findings were recently published in the Social Security Administration’s 2018 trustees report, prompting the expected torrent of alarming headlines, such as “Get Ready for the Great Depression” and “Social Security & Medicare are slowly dying, but no one in Washington will lift a finger.”
[For more on this story by Alexia Fernández Campbell, go to https://www.vox.com/2018/8/1/1...tion-social-security]
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