Media (AP)reports improved SS - but says rich do not want to repay stolen

[papau]

payroll tax monies now being used to finance tax cut for the rich -- or to quote the nice words used to express the above "Analysts say that date (2019 - the point when SS will cash in a few bonds in so as to pay benefits, making the Federal Gov raise the FIT tax on the rich so as to get the monies to pay off those bonds) is likely more significant because the insolvency projections count on funds owed the system by the government in the so-called trust fund. Those funds, however, already been spent and must be repaid." AND OUR FRIENDS THE RICH DO NOT WANT TO REPAY.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBR8R1SGVD.html

Report: Social Security Shortfall Could Occur a Decade Later Than Previously Thought
By Leigh Strope
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Social Security's long-term prospects are better than previously thought, a congressional report said Monday, estimating the program won't become insolvent until 2052, a decade later than projected earlier this year. <snip>

But using rosier economic assumptions over the next 75 years on such things as inflation and productivity, congressional budget forecasters said the shortfall would be 1 percent of taxable payroll.

Both reports pegged 2019 as the year the system will start paying out more in benefits than it takes in in payroll taxes.

Analysts say that date is likely more significant because the insolvency projections count on funds owed the system by the government in the so-called trust fund. Those funds, however, already been spent and must be repaid.

CBO: http://www.cbo.gov
http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBR8R1SGVD.html


Outlook for Social Security (Solvent to 2052 if FIT on rich increased to get monies to pay off Gov Bonds in Social Security Trust Fund and thus replay monies now being stolen to finance the FIT tax cut for the rich) - THIS 2052 IS A 10 YEAR INCREASE IN THE LENGH OF TIME BEFORE SS IS A PROBLEM!!!!! SO WILL THE MEDIA NOTE THERE IS NO NEED FOR A BUSH INDIVIDUAL ACCOUNT PLAN?

http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5530&sequence=0

http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm?index=5530&sequence=2

The Outlook for Social Security June 2004


<snip>The 100-year summarized deficit can be interpreted as indicating that if annual Social Security revenues were permanently increased, or annual outlays decreased, by 0.5 percent of GDP beginning immediately, trust fund balances would be sufficient to provide spending authority for all of the benefits scheduled to be paid over the next 100 years. If either of those changes--or their equivalent--was made, projected trust fund balances would remain positive over that period. And at the end of the 100 years, the balance would be large enough to authorize paying one year's worth of benefits.

As noted earlier, however, positive trust fund balances indicate the legal authority to pay benefits but not the budgetary resources to do so. Thus, they do not give as full a picture of the financial situation as annual outlays and revenues do. A limitation of simply targeting the summarized balance is that such an approach would not necessarily provide solvency to the Social Security system over the long term. Because outlays are projected to rise over time, a policy that increased revenues by 0.5 percent of GDP every year would still result in annual Social Security deficits beginning in 2024 and would only modestly reduce them in the long run. For example, the annual deficit under current law is projected to equal 1.3 percent of GDP in 2050 and 2.0 percent of GDP in 2100, so boosting revenues by 0.5 percent of GDP would still leave large deficits in those years.

As a share of taxable payroll, the summarized 100-year deficit equals 1.4 percent, CBO projects (see Table 1-2). The Social Security trustees commonly summarize the system's deficit relative to taxable payroll over 75 years. CBO projects a 75-year summarized deficit of 1.00 percent of taxable payroll.(13)


Another common measure of Social Security's finances is the ratio of the trust fund balance to annual outlays, which indicates how many years' worth of benefits could be funded with a given balance. The trust fund balance summarizes the entire accounting history of the Social Security program in a single number, because it equals the present value of all past revenues minus the present value of all past outlays. As noted above, it is also important from a policy perspective, because legal spending authority is limited to the balance of the trust funds. However, trust fund holdings, which are invested in Treasury bonds, are liabilities to the rest of the government (which will need to pay for the bonds when they are redeemed). Thus, such holdings are not assets of the government as a whole.

The expected trust fund exhaustion date--the year in which the trust fund balance (and thus the trust fund ratio) falls to zero--is 2052 in CBO's projection. But as the uncertainty range in Figure 1-2 shows, there is a 10 percent chance that the exhaustion date will be 2034 or earlier and a 10 percent chance that it will be after 2085. Although the figure shows negative trust fund ratios after the exhaustion date, under current law the trust funds cannot be negative because the Social Security program does not have the legal authority to borrow money. Thus, those negative balances represent the cumulative amount that the federal government's general fund would have to provide to pay all scheduled Social Security benefits. <snip>