Can You Call it ‘Social Security’ if it’s Built on Nothing but Monopoly Money?
Kathryn Nix /
Social Security faces the serious danger of failing to live up to its name due to its unfunded obligations. Last week, the Social Security and Medicare trustees issued their report on the fiscal outlook for the program. We reported that:
Social Security has a $7.9 trillion shortfall (up $0.1 trillion from last year), which means the program would require $7.9 trillion in cash—today!—to afford its promises. Alternatively, closing that gap would require payroll taxes to rise immediately and permanently from 12.4 percent of earnings to 14.24 percent. For a worker earning $50,000, that’s a $920 tax increase.