Social Securitys expenditures exceeded non-interest income in 2010 and 2011, the first such occurrences since 1983, and the Trustees estimate that these expenditures will remain greater than non-interest income throughout the 75-year projection period. The deficit of non-interest income relative to expenditures was about
$49 billion in 2010 and $45 billion in 2011, and the Trustees project that it will average about $66 billion between 2012 and 2018 before rising steeply as the economy slows after the recovery is complete and the number of beneficiaries continues to grow at a substantially faster rate than the number of covered workers. Redemption of trust fund assets from the General Fund of the Treasury will provide the resources needed to offset the annual cash-flow deficits. Since these redemptions will be less than interest earnings through 2020, nominal trust fund balances will continue to grow. The trust fund ratio, which indicates the number of years of program cost that could be financed solely with current trust fund reserves, peaked in 2008, declined through 2011, and is expected to decline further in future years. After 2020, Treasury will redeem trust fund assets in amounts that exceed interest earnings until exhaustion of trust fund reserves in 2033, three years earlier than projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2086.
A temporary reduction in the Social Security payroll tax rate reduced payroll tax revenues by
$103 billion in 2011 and by a projected $112 billion in 2012. The legislation establishing the payroll tax reduction also provided for transfers of revenues from the general fund to the trust funds in order to "replicate to the extent possible" payments that would have occurred if the payroll tax reduction had not been enacted. Those general fund reimbursements comprise about 15 percent of the program's non-interest income in 2011 and 2012.
Trustees Report Summary
Frankly, when our Govt. uses Social Security for what it was not intended , and that is a "General Fund" to borrow from for everything from F-35's, to golf course upkeep, it's not surprising that some would think Social Security is the problem rather than both parties who have used the program for other than what it was intended for. One other thing that comes to mind here, Social Security is one of the largest debt holders if US debt , and at the moment to make the case that Social Security is the problem when at the same time your the one who is making it the problem is nonsense.
Some other issues come to mind here as well, Social Security was set up as a program to provide a "stable" benefit, not subject to the whims of the market, or state run pensions, a person can count on when they retire. Frankly I find it amusing that some would advocate getting rid of Social Security when all it takes is a little time and research to understand , that without it to sheer cost and economic impact without it would offset any gains made. Without Social Security this nation more than half the Seniors in this nation lived in poverty and more than 75% of them lived without any form of health insurance, you think your health insurance is high now? Get rid of Social Security and Medicare and watch what happens. It makes a lot more sense to actually fix these programs so that they are there for the generations that follow, and properly fund them and stop using them as credit cards.
