October 1, 2024

Actually, Social Security can go bankrupt

It has been more than 40 years since Congress found common ground on Social Security and implemented a series of necessary reforms. Over that time, the discussion of Social Security has devolved into a shouting match, an exchange of emotion...

May 30, 2024

Why Can’t Washington agree on the future of Social Security?

The latest report issued by Trustees of the Social Security Trust Funds has come and gone, leaving a trail of good news in its wake. This is great for politicians running for office, and less so for the guy on the street. Given that vote...

February 9, 2024

The Social Security clock keeps ticking

Social Security has marched to a steady cadence of financial decline for the past 40 years. Every year, the size of the Social Security bomb gets bigger while the fuse becomes a little shorter. While that image might be a serious problem for you, it ...

August 25, 2023

Is Social Security savable?

Milton Friedman once observed, “If the government ran the Sahara, in five years there would be a shortage of sand.”  He was right. The government has run Social Security for more than 80 years, and now there is a shortage of secur...

July 19, 2023

Democrats want to 'soak the rich' to preserve Social Security

Democrats in Congress have moved into full swing on the issue of Social Security, offering two mega-proposals to finance the program for decades into the future.  Sounds too good to be true. It depends upon who you are. Back in May, R...

June 7, 2023

The Social Security dilemma

The experts at the Tax Foundation fret that the current debate about extending the debt ceiling has lost track of the fact that Social Security is a major contributor to our growing deficit and debt crisis. They may be right about the fiscal ADHD ...

March 4, 2023

Are Republicans trying to destroy social security?

Following his State of the Union address, President Biden has been on the attack over the GOP's many proposals to reform Social Security.  Before you react to the talking points, you should ask: is there any validity to Biden's...

February 22, 2023

Social Security should be in the spotlight

The mainstream media coverage concerning President Biden's remarks about Social Security during his State of the Union address and the Republican reaction has been remarkable in its ability to miss the point.  Pundits sparred over wheth...

February 8, 2023

Social Security, checks, and Rube Goldberg

The debt ceiling limit is back in the news.  In the past, political leaders have responded to concerns about this issue by suggesting that Social Security checks might not go out on time should Congress not agree on another debt ceiling ext...

January 13, 2023

This simple fix could help save Social Security

Social Security Trust Funds have squandered billions of dollars on an antiquated investment policy.  That loss tells us a lot about the financial crisis coming to Social Security. In 2019, Social Security lost roughly $1 billion ...

September 14, 2022

Student loans and the decline of Social Security

Last month, the Biden administration announced that it would wipe out an estimated $1 trillion owed to the county.  No vote, nor authorization from Congress.  The money simply appeared as if by magic. While the administration...

December 22, 2021

Addressing Social Security's $19.8-trillion unfunded liability

While retirees, in general, are looking forward to the highest cost of living adjustment (COLA) in 40 years, one set of retirees will get nothing to cover the cost of inflation over the past year.  People born in 1960 will find a lump of co...

June 24, 2016

Soaking the Rich to Pay (More Than) Their Fair Share for Social Security

The financial gap between the projected inflows and outflows of Social Security is enormous, and the solutions to close that the hole are few.  Instead of talking about how to close the gaps, we are talking about how to spend even more. The m...

February 26, 2016

Demographics and the third rail of politics

On Monday, February 23, the Associated Press reported surprising news: Social Security’s insecurity beat joblessness as the top economic issue for the coming election. That result may well be a historic first, one that portends the disr...

August 14, 2015

Social Security at Eighty

As Social Security turns 80 today, you can expect the media to gush about the recent projections about the improving finances of the program. On July 22, the Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund released a report that concluded the exhaustio...

September 8, 2012

Social Security: Disaster Is Closer Than It Appears

Every car sold since I was born carries a warning on the passenger side view mirror: "Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear."  Car manufacturers provide this warning because the same mirror produces different views of the same traffi...