Saturday, July 15, 2017

Social Security still not fixed

From the Social Security Trustees report:
In the 2017 Annual Report to Congress, the Trustees announced:
  • The asset reserves of the combined OASDI Trust Funds increased by $35 billion in 2016 to a total of $2.85 trillion.
  • The combined trust fund reserves are still growing and will continue to do so through 2021. Beginning in 2022, the total annual cost of the program is projected to exceed income.
  • The year when the combined trust fund reserves are projected to become depleted, if Congress does not act before then, is 2034 – the same as projected last year. At that time, there will be sufficient income coming in to pay 77 percent of scheduled benefits.
“It is time for the public to engage in the important national conversation about how to keep Social Security strong,” said Nancy A. Berryhill, Acting Commissioner of Social Security. “People understand the value of their earned Social Security benefits and the importance of keeping the program secure for the future.”
Geez, whatever, Debbie Downer.  I'm sure that Americans will be totally fine with receiving three-fourths of their promised benefits.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Let's list all of the elected Congressmen who will do nothing, and say "Tough luck, here's your smaller check" to 78 million voting seniors. I'll start:

1.
2.
3.

Eric said...

Let's list all of the elected Congressmen who will ask American workers to pay more in payroll taxes for a program that already has a negative rate of return:

1.
2.
3.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/social-security-not-deal-once-165406538.html

Anonymous said...

Reportedly about 12 million people are covered under Obamacare. And the GOP is tangled up and biting one another like rabid rats inside a shoebox. It's not going well.

But there will be 535 profiles in courage when it's time to cut Social Security for six or seven times as many people (who also have the highest voting turnout).

Uh huh.

Eric said...

Caught between the 1/3rd retirees and the 2/3rds of working Americans, I'm sure the Democrats will find a way to tax "the other guy." They're brave like that, taking the difficult but necessary path.

Anonymous said...

Whereas true courage is quacking "Repeal and replace, repeal and replace" for six years, then running for the hills going "yipe yipe yipe" when the politics get real and the consequences get sticky.

And Obamacare (75 years younger, with one-seventh the users) is the easy program to wreck.

Eric said...

Obamacare doesn't need "wrecking" - it's dying on its own without any help. The law so well-written it can be brought down with some mean words by Donald Trump.

I, for one, am heartbroken that the greatest generator of Republican seats across the country is still the law of the land.

Anonymous said...

Conservatism is going to win. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon and for the rest of your life.

But what about Obamacare?

We'll always have 2010.

Eric said...

Casablanca.

We'll always have 2010. And 2014. And 2016.

Democrats 2018: "We have nowhere to go but up!*"

* Senate not included.

Anonymous said...

We'll always have 2010. And 2014. And 2016.


The President's party has picked up House seats in 3 midterm elections since 1840. That's a Capitol Hill of 3 beans in this crazy world. You must remember this.