The annual Social Security Trustees Report was released today and, and just like in years past, the Trustees warn about the program’s gloomy financial prospects and urge policymakers to act expeditiously to avert major problems:
We are increasingly concerned about inaction on the financial challenges facing the Social Security and Medicare programs. The longer we wait to address these challenges, the more limited will be the options available, the greater will be the required adjustments, and the more severe the potential detrimental economic impact on our nation.
David John of The Heritage Foundation explains what dates are most important (such as 2017, when Social Security will begin running a deficit and using general revenues to pay promised benefits) and what lessons we should take from the Trustees’ data. Don’t miss this report — it is easy to ignore the coming entitlement time bomb when there are so many other policy problems that seem more urgent today, but as this Trustee Report tells us, the day of reckoning is approaching Social Security quickly and the sooner policymakers respond the better.