The bad news always comes once a year: The Social Security Trust Fund is running out of money.
Well, if nothing is done to replenish the Social Security pot of money, that’s one scenario. But there are plenty of other scenarios since Congress can act to fully fund America’s most popular retirement program at any time.
None of the assumptions about the trust fund are locked in stone. There are a number of ways of looking at it, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College:
- The 2021 Trustees Report anticipates that the short-term effects of the COVID pandemic will dissipate quickly, so the trust fund’s depletion date moved only from 2035 to 2034.
- For the long-run, the Trustees changed three ultimate assumptions – a higher fertility rate, slower mortality gains, and a lower unemployment rate – all of which improved the 75-year outlook.
- While the increase in the 75-year deficit is not a COVID story, the pandemic has underscored Social Security’s vital role in providing steady income to beneficiaries and serving as a safety net for older workers.
I know this doesn’t sound like an optimistic outlook, it is when you factor in the political realities.
There are no private-sector programs that come close to Social Security, which offers inflation-indexed, survivor and spousal benefits. In addition, people need it and are using it. It’s hard to take away — or cut — a vital service.
So how does the program get the funding it needs to get us through this century? Political will. Call your congressional representatives.
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
