Social Security

US Interest Costs Will Match Social Security Spending by 2048, CBO Says

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday confirmed what we already knew: The U.S. faces a rising tide of red ink, with the national debt as a share of the economy projected to nearly double over...
Why the Social Security Disability Fund Is Looking Healthier

By Michael Rainey

The Social Security trustees’ report released earlier this month estimated that the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds will run out of reserves in 2032, four years later than expected. The...
Do Deficit Hawks Have a Snowball’s Chance in Hell in Today’s Politics?

By Michael Rainey

When Starbucks founder and executive chairman Howard Schultz announced his retirement earlier this week, he set off a round of speculation about a possible presidential run in 2020. Schultz has never...
Medicare Finances Worsen, Social Security Will Tap Reserves for First Time in 36 Years

By Yuval Rosenberg

Medicare’s financial problems worsened last year while Social Security still faces a significant long-term financial crunch — and will need to tap into its reserves for the first time in 36 years,...
Why More Retirees Are Waiting to Claim Social Security

By Michael Rainey

Retirees are waiting longer to claim their Social Security benefits, reports Mark Miller of Reuters, with the number of early claimants dropping dramatically in recent years: “As recently as 2004,...

Election Ad Wars 2018: GOP Focuses on Immigration, Dems on Health Care

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 2018 elections are 160 days away, but the campaign ad wars are already well under way, with Republicans and Democrats focusing on very different issues so far — though the election is clearly...
The Unintended Consequence of Letting Workers Take Social Security at Age 62

By Michael Rainey

With the Social Security system facing insolvency by 2034, one option to address the program’s fiscal shortfall is to raise the early retirement age of 62. While little is known about the effects...
US Fertility Just Hit a 30-Year Low. Why That's a Problem for Social Security

By Michael Rainey

Births in the U.S. fell to a multi-decade low last year, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics released Tuesday. The provisional estimate shows 3.85 million births in the U...
Here’s How Much Americans Rely on Social Security

By Yuval Rosenberg

Social Security once again tops the list of major income sources for U.S. retirees — just as it has every year since 2001, according to a new Gallup survey . Almost six in 10 U.S. retirees surveyed...
Is Social Security a ‘Good Investment’?

By Michael Rainey

Social Security is a pay-as-you-go social insurance program, not an investment fund, but Monique Morrissey of the Economic Policy Institute says that its return on contributions is actually quite...

Why the GOP’s Debt-Financed Tax Cuts Could Come Back to Haunt Them

By Yuval Rosenberg

Republicans keep saying that their tax cut plan will pay for itself, despite a profound lack of evidence to support that argument. Even the most optimistic study, from the conservative-leaning Tax...
Should Failing Private Pension Funds Get a Federal Bailout?

By Marc Joffe

Bailing out pension funds by offering them unpayable loans simply kicks the can down the road and increases future deficits in a non-transparent manner. Worse, this approach could easily spread to...
The GOP’s Tax-Cut Two-Step

By Yuval Rosenberg

Liberal critics of the Republican tax plan have long warned that it’s just the first part of a two-step plan that, after adding $1.7 trillion to the nation’s long-term debt, would quickly lead to GOP...
Many Americans Don’t Trust Trump to Protect Social Security, Medicare

By Yuval Rosenberg

As a candidate, President Trump pledged to “save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts,” but nearly 60 percent of Americans heading into their retirement years don’t trust him to...
Why Pension Funds Have Fallen Behind, Even as Stocks Boom

By Richard Leong, Reuters

While U.S. corporate pensions regained some swagger after Wall Street’s record run this summer, they are still far from their heyday before the 2007-2009 credit crunch when they appeared to be in...