Social Security Report

2021 Social Security Trustees Report – MIA - RealClear Politics

The annual Social Security Trustee Report for 2021 was due to Congress way back in April (April 1, specifically), but to date, nothing has been seen. As Mark J. Warshawsky, senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute points out in a post today on RealClear Politics, “The trustees’ reports contain essential information on the current operations of Social Security and Medicare, the state of the trust funds, and, most importantly, actuarial projections of the future finances of these massive programs. These concern nearly all Americans, taxpayers and beneficiaries alike. The reports give Congress and the administration an in-depth analysis of how these programs will affect the federal budget, and how solvent they are, given future expected economic and demographic conditions, both in the short-run and over many decades ahead.”

As most everybody knows, last year’s Trustees Report noted that the program is now paying out more than it’s taking in, placing the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Disability Insurance (OASI and DI) Trust Fund reserves on a trajectory that would see them fully depleted by 2035, with an estimated 21% across-the-board decrease in payments to beneficiaries. That was the news then, and it appears at this point that the situation is continuing to deteriorate.

In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in July 2021 confirmed its projection from earlier in the year that the depletion date for the combined Social Security Trust Funds now stands at 2032—a full three years earlier than the Trustees’ projection of record at that time. This projection, of course, assumes that current laws governing Social Security revenue and disbursements remain unchanged over the forecast period. The CBO included in its mid-year comments the observation that immediate payroll tax increases, reduction in scheduled benefits, or a combination of both would be necessary to continue scheduled benefits beyond the trust fund depletion, with the potential of a 25% benefit cut being the alternative.

As Warshawsky notes in his article, “(t)he public needs to know” what’s happening regarding Social Security’s long-term financial picture, especially in light of government spending plans currently in the news. His experience as a previous deputy commissioner for retirement and disability policy at the Social Security Administration qualifies him to raise the question, and you can read his thoughts in the article here…

Social Security’s solvency issue has been a known problem for many, many years, and will not go away on its own. As a result, the need for permanent correction via program reform continues to hurtle toward the 2032 cliff cited by the CBO. The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) has been at the forefront trying to strengthen Social Security by developing and proposing its Social Security Guarantee.  AMAC has been discussing and continues to discuss this common-sense solution with Congressional Representatives in its efforts to protect America’s senior citizens who rely on Social Security.  To review AMAC‘s Social Security Guarantee, click here.

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