The Social Security Trustees just released their annual report on the system’s finances. The news is awful.
The system’s future benefit promises exceed its future payroll tax (FICA) revenues by a terrifying $59.8 trillion, that's over 2.5 times the size of the U.S. economy.
Unfortunately, Social Security’s fiscal shortfall is just part of our nation’s long-term insolvency. The Congressional Budget Office's long-term fiscal projections of Uncle Sam’s overall fiscal gap — the present value of all projected federal outlays, including interest payments on official debt, less the present value of projected federal receipts is — hold your breath — in excess of 10 years of GDP.