Social Security projected to cut benefits in 2035 barring a fix

Good news for once!

The timeline to replenish Social Security is being extended... by one year. Now instead of 2034 being the year of insolvency we can push off the panic until 2035.

That brings up the age old question of why the Government doesn't start tapering off payments now; spreading the pain across all current generations rather than dumping it all on later generations?

Social Security projected to cut benefits in 2035 barring a fix

The timeline to replenish Social Security is being extended. The federal retirement program said Monday it may not need to cut benefits until 2035, one year later than previously forecast, because of stronger performance by the U.S.

The new projection, from the Social Security Board of Trustees' annual report, amounts to "good news" for the program's 70 million beneficiaries, said Martin O'Malley, Commissioner of Social Security, in a statement. Even so, he urged Congress to take steps to shore up the program to ensure it can pay full benefits "into the foreseeable future."

Social Security relies on its trust funds to provide monthly checks to beneficiaries, with the funds primarily financed through the payroll taxes that workers and businesses provide with each paycheck. But the funds' reserves are drawing down because spending is outpacing income, partly due to the wave of baby boomer retirements and an aging U.S. population.

Link

a reply to: Dandandat3

there is always the chance that they find some extra money at the 11th hour. Isn't that usually the case?

a reply to: network dude

That is only the case with voting.....

a reply to: Dandandat3

You’d think that the sheer amount of baby boomers paying into the system after all these years would have funded the system.
The government has no clue how to spend our money.
As a Gen X I never expected to get anything from social security when it was my time to retire.
I wonder if I was taught to not expect that or I intuitively knew I would be paying into that Ponzi scheme.
Thanks boomer

It’s such BS! How! How In the hell is it insolvent when people who pay into it will never get out what they put into it. You should be gaining interest through your life of putting into it. But no, now they wait until you’re almost at the average age of death, then throw you peanuts.

I haven’t paid into it in the 24 years I’ve been on the fire department. We have our own pension (which the city pulls the same insolvency game. It’s all due to theft by our government on both fronts. If they erase benefits when we reach old age it truly will be attack of the living dead.

I have an issue with this. I paid in for 40 yrs..If I put the same 4-5K in decent mutual funds, it would have grown to
2-3 Million dollars. I could easily get 120K per year income from that and when I die give the 2-3 million to my kids.
Instead I get a small fraction of that amount (just retired) and when I'm gone my adult children get nothing.
WHERE is all that money going to? I know, I know

Social Security may run out soon,
but "we'll support Ukraine for as long as it takes."

a reply to: Dandandat3

I doubt social security is going to exist in 2035.

Interest on the debt is going to be the largest part of the budget next year.

How long until we can't afford to pay that? Unless drastic action is taken to cut spending like right now it's all going to collapse.

originally posted by: network dude
a reply to: Dandandat3

there is always the chance that they find some extra money at the 11th hour. Isn't that usually the case?

Unfortunately it’s the opposite. The federal government has “borrowed” from the fund. To the tune of 1.7t~.

a reply to: Dandandat3

Wonder if we will still be sending Ukraine billions in aid by then?
This is a welfare program started years ago that just kicks the can down the road until you eventually run out of road. Medicare is a huge problem too. Lots of massive hospitals have been built on the funds of Medicare. Just like college tuition, Medicare allows for ever increased medical costs.

originally posted by: ColeYounger2
Social Security may run out soon,
but "we'll support Ukraine for as long as it takes."

I get your point, but truth be told the small wedge issues both parties focus on are a very small fraction of our debt of financial issues. Obviously they all add up, but they’re a symptom, not the problem.

We need to change how the federal government fiscally operates. It needs to move to a debit like balance sheet where everything spent has money allocated for it. The current trend of borrowing or printing just means we pay more through interest or inflation.

Neither party cares if their spending is out of control, they’ll just blame the next admin for all of the problems. It’s a constant baton pass to a new patsy. But the problem is systemic.

Funny how they can’t find money for that, but have an endless amount to fund war.

originally posted by: Willzilla7476
Funny how they can’t find money for that, but have an endless amount to fund war.

It’s not about finding money for it, we all pay into it. It’s that they take from it.

If it was managed properly it should always be growing and accruing interest. Instead they take from it and never replenish…. All while we continue to pay into a system we won’t get anything out of. Just another hidden tax.

a reply to: Dandandat3

They are spending it all on Ukraine.

Criminal bastards!

originally posted by: charlest2
a reply to: Dandandat3

They are spending it all on Ukraine.

Criminal bastards!

They’ve been taking from social security since the move to fiat.

Edit: they have been borrowing from it since Johnson, before the switch to fiat. Ironic that it was around the same time period. But it wouldn’t make sense that it’s related to the move to fiat since they can print or borrow elsewhere too.

a reply to: Dandandat3

American Progress org.

Yet, because wages above the $147,000 maximum go untaxed, the relatively few workers who earn more than that are essentially exempt from Social Security taxes after they reach the maximum. A CEO with a $1 million salary, for instance, would have only contributed to the Social Security system through February 23 of 2022.

The taxable maximum (or cap) rises in line with average wage growth every year. But because average wages have grown more slowly than those at the top of the distribution, the share of wages above the taxable maximum has increased. Since 1983, the share of untaxed earnings has risen from 10 percent to almost 17.5 percent. This dramatic increase means that the Social Security payroll tax misses a substantial and growing amount of potential revenue.

Moreover, this increase is not being driven by some large mass of upper-middle-class workers. As shown in Figure 1, it is mostly due to a significant increase in the wage share of the top 1 percent. Between 1983 and 2020, the share of earnings going to the highest percentile of wage earners rose from 8.8 percent to 13.5 percent—an increase of 4.7 percentage points.** The greater share of wages going to the top 1 percent thus single-handedly accounts for 62 percent of the increase in untaxed earnings.

CBS News

Workers pay Social Security tax up to a maximum income level, which was $160,200 in 2023. Earnings above that threshold aren't taxed for Social Security.

But their monthly benefits can be as much as $5000 a month whether they need it or not.. It's a scheme for the transfer of wealth to the earners that need it the least.

I did some more reading, and for posterity want to add the following.

It’s alleged that all money borrowed has been paid back or is scheduled to be paid back.

That said, it still seems odd that the program is in jeopardy if population continues to increase. I suppose the biggest generation is in retirement, but I still suspect there’s more to this.

I did some more reading, and for posterity want to add the following.

It’s alleged that all money borrowed has been paid back or is scheduled to be paid back.

That said, it still seems odd that the program is in jeopardy if population continues to increase. I suppose the biggest generation is in retirement, but I still suspect there’s more to this.

Will all of the illegals be paying SS?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

a reply to: koolkikitty

I can’t imagine that a vast majority would as they’re likely paid under the table.

But I’d also venture to bet a vast majority can’t claim social security without a SS#. Though I’m sure with everything there are instances of fraud.