There is a great op-ed worth reading in today's Washington Post by Allan Sloan (Newsweek's Wall Street Editor). Sloan explains what the numbers in the Trustees Report really tell us about the current system.
Sloan gives the shortfall scale:
In 2021, a mere 15 years from now, cash is negative to the tune of $128 billion. For the economic purists among us, that's equivalent to $85 billion in today's dollars -- think of it as adding another Iraq and Afghanistan to the budget.
And dispels "trust fund" myths:
But won't the trust fund allow Social Security to keep paying full benefits until 2039? Actually, it won't, because despite its heft, the trust fund doesn't generate any cash to cover the shortfalls. When Social Security has to get $11 billion from its trust fund in 2017 or $284 billion in 2025, it will cash in some Treasury securities. But to get the money to redeem those securities, the Treasury will have to tax more, spend less or borrow more. That's exactly what the Treasury would have to do to keep Social Security checks from bouncing if there were no trust fund. So what use is the trust fund? None.
