In continued fear-mongering, the new claim is the Social Security to run dry by 2033

[liberal N proud]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The government's retirement benefits programs will run out of money three years earlier than previously thought, its trustees said on Monday, increasing the pressure on lawmakers to reform the federal safety net for millions of Americans.

The trustees said the Social Security fund for retirees will become insolvent in 2033. But it said the Medicare funds will run out in 2024, the same forecast as last year.

The trustees said a key factor in revising the Social Security estimate was the view that Americans' average real earnings were likely to grow more slowly than previously thought, thus crimping revenues from taxes that finance the fund.

"Lawmakers should address the financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare as soon as possible," the trustees' annual report said. "Taking action sooner rather than later will leave more options and more time available to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare," it said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47146656/


Maybe the lawmakers should put the funds back that they have stolen from it for years.

[TheWraith]

1. What "funds that have been stolen"?

You do know there's a difference between stealing money and investing it, right? The US bonds that the Social Security Trust Fund is invested in make it MORE solvent, not less, by providing a constant influx of interest on the cash reserve.

[liberal N proud]

3. They have called it Borrowing from the trust fund

But we all know it will never be paid back.

From a July 2011 article:

Social Security status-quo defenders have assured us for the past 25 years that Social Security is fully funded—for the next 25 years, or 2036. So if there are real assets in the Social Security Trust Fund—$2.6 trillion allegedly—then how could failure to reach a debt-ceiling agreement possibly threaten seniors’ Social Security checks?

The answer is that the federal government has borrowed all of that trust fund money and spent it, exactly as Krauthammer asserted. And the only way the trust fund can get some cash to pay Social Security benefits is if the federal government draws it from general revenues or borrows the money—which, of course, it can’t do because of the debt ceiling.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/merrillmatthews/2011/07/13/what-happened-to-the-2-6-trillion-social-security-trust-fund/

BORROWED only to never pay it back.

[TheWraith]

5. That is nonsense, which completely fails to understand the nature of US bonds.

It's the kind of abstract conspiracy theorism you might expect from the Ron Paul crowd: that because there's not a giant pile of money sitting in a vault, therefore the Social Security Trust Fund isn't real. Except, it is, and it contains $2.6 trillion dollars worth of US treasury bonds; the same kind which the US government is legally bound to honor. It's not like taking $50 out of a box and saying "don't worry, we'll pay it back." Krauthammer is, as usual, completely full of shit, and using said fullness of shit to fearmonger. The threat to Social Security in the debt deal was the prospect of forcing the US to default on it's debt, which would have tanked the price of US bonds, which are currently and have been for decades a no-risk investment.

[coalition_unwilling]

7. Thank you for a breath of sanity. I get so sick of the BS about

how money has been 'stolen' by politicians from the SS Trust Fund. It's such utter and complete horseshit that I usually don't even bother trying to refute it.

[supraTruth]

12. STOP THE DAMN WARS (INCLUDING THE RAYgun ESCALATED DRUG WAR!)

PLENTY OF $ THEN TO PAY IT BACK, WITH INTEREST!

[HiPointDem]

2. "run out of money" = lie. & the main reasons for the change in the forecast = obama's tax "holiday"

& the continuing economic downturn.

[TheWraith]

6. It has nothing to do with the payroll tax.

Since the SSTF has continued taking in exactly the same amount of money regardless.

[HiPointDem]

9. the money it takes in re the payroll tax holiday = buyback of TF securities = depletion of TF in

less time, a fact which the PTB can use to cry "wolf" even louder.

[cthulu2016]

4. Benefits would have to be cut in 2033

Checks wouldn't stop coming, of course. Insolvent does not mean broke. And "run dry" is just a lie. But the checks would be reduced somewhat.

So the Republican (and moderate Democratic) approach is to make those reductions today so they won't be made in 2033.

???

Incredibly stupid argument, but not unexpected.

[RebelOne]

8. I am nor worried about it.

I am already 73 and will probably be gone by 2033 unless by some miracle I live to be 94.

[supraTruth]

11. & how about ALL of the $ owed to it from the General Fund AND the INTEREST on THAT?!

[fascisthunter]

14. nobody answers that question

because I think people believe the money owed will never be paid back. THIS is what we need to change the dialogue to... when will it be paid back, NOT when will SS run out or need to be cut. I hate how this issue has been framed.

[HooptieWagon]

13. Exactly.

Once the reserve is spent, funding still continues at about 75%. Not possible for SS to "run dry"... as long as payroll tax is taking in money, there is money to pay beneficiaries.

[supraTruth]

10. ELIMINATE the CAP on income! NO more worries!

MULTImillionaires&BILLIONAIRES pay LESS than 0.01% of their incomes to S.S. & Medicare & the working poor pay 13% (again come Jan.?).