For the next 19 years, every day approximately ten thousand baby boomers retire. This results in double the number of people collecting benefits compared to the number of people paying taxes.
The federal government will need to pay off 2.5 million dollars that it owes to the Social Security Trust Fund, which consists of IOUs that will need to be repaid by younger tax payers. In short, taxes will need to be raised or the government will need to borrow money elsewhere to cover Social Security payments.
One both sides of the story, some feel the Social Security scare is made up by those who do not like the government. Meanwhile, government officials claim that the Social Security system is just fine.
Unfortunately, the facts state that in the late 2030s when the fund is exhausted, Social Security will only be able to pay 75 cents on every promised dollar. Therefore, taxes either need to be increased or other government spending must be cut in order to keep Social Security running.
In short, the problem should be addressed now before future lawmakers need to borrow money from other programs. Many Americans feel that these government officials postpone these difficult and serious issues until the problem is no longer avoidable and must be addressed. By then, the damage has been done and the system is worse off than before.
The longer today’s lawmakers wait to address Social Security system issues, the larger the number of people who will be affected in the future.
