We’ve known that Social Security has been on the verge of a substantial change (at minimum) for quite some time.
You can see how disturbing things could turn out by looking at the bar graph below from Peter G. Peterson Foundation. It reveals a cumulative cash deficit of $2.9 trillion from now to 2035, after which, the trust fund (Social Security’s bank account) will be empty:
If that weren’t disturbing enough, now employees that work at the Social Security Administration are sounding the alarm, too. According to the Federal Times:
Employees at the Social Security Administration overwhelmingly do not have confidence in their leadership’s ability to successfully direct the agency, according to surveys released by two employee associations Dec. 9.
Don’t like charts? In summary, Social Security is running a major cash deficit that will eat up all available cash by 2035. At the same time, we have employees calling into question the leadership ability at the SSA.
Social Security Bureaucracy’s Questionable Decisions
The pandemic complicated matters even further when SSA leaders canceled a work-from-home policy. According to the same Federal Times piece:
Prior to the pandemic, SSA came under scrutiny for rolling back a years-long telework program due to oversight and case backlog concerns. Watchdog reports, however, found that the agency had been able to respond to calls more efficiently under the telework program.
So it appears the Social Security Administration had something that worked reasonably well, and then ditched it. At the same time, many organizations not supported by your taxes and relying on profit to keep the doors open, have announced long-term or even permanent telework programs.
Seems like SSA employees are right to feel worried. And they aren’t the only ones…
Many Americans Are Concerned Social Security Could Disappear
Up until now, the U.S. government has reliably paid benefits to Social Security recipients since 1935, and Medicare benefits since 1965.
According to a recent study of more than 1,000 people of various age groups: “70% believe their Social Security benefits will be cut or eliminated by the time they retire.”
That doesn’t seem very encouraging at all.
A year and a half ago, we reported that Social Security was already moving behind the 8-ball if no constructive solution was offered. Nothing has been done, so the outlook today is more dire than it was then, which could help explain why 7 out of 10 future recipients are so pessimistic about future benefits.
Another interesting finding in the study showed more than half of the participants would opt-out of Social Security altogether if they could. This was based on fears of paying in and getting no benefits if the program were to disappear. No rational person wants to pay for a stranger’s golden years at the expense of their own retirement.
Joe Biden has promised some tax changes of his own that would apply to Social Security. We will have to wait and see if those changes get the results necessary to keep the program afloat.
One thing is certain, however. Time is running out for lawmakers to come up with a solution effective enough to inspire confidence in Americans nearing retirement age, whether or not they work for the SSA.
On the other hand, we should remember director James Cameron’s words: “Hope is not a strategy.”
Don’t Hesitate to Secure Your Retirement Now
Whether Social Security benefit cuts or other consequences take place before 2035 remains to be seen. But it’s best to prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.
Examine your retirement savings and make adjustments that don’t solely rely on Social Security, just in case. Which sounds more reasonable: blind faith in a federal bureaucracy with track record of incompetence and mismanagement? Or diversifying your savings by spreading your nest egg across several different baskets?
Those adjustments could also include holding physical assets like gold or silver. They have been shown to protect the value of your savings while also providing an inflation-resistant store of value used worldwide for thousands of years.
After 8 long years of ultra-loose monetary policy from the Federal Reserve, it’s no secret that inflation is primed to soar. If your IRA or 401(k) is exposed to this threat, it’s critical to act now! That’s why thousands of Americans are moving their retirement into a Gold IRA. Learn how you can too with a free info kit on gold from Birch Gold Group. It reveals the little-known IRS Tax Law to move your IRA or 401(k) into gold. Click here to get your free Info Kit on Gold.
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I’m not buying gold, just a reminder the US Govt borrowed against SS. The Fed can carry it on their books, just like they are doing today
Hell they can just take your gold like they did in the past.
It could happen – but only if they decide it’s worth taking and you feel like being cooperative.
It has been clear for decades that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. I am not inclined to be the least bit sympathetic to anyone (except the truly disabled, support of whom should not even be associated with the fraud that has always been called “Social Security”) who is whining about it. I am 59, and knew when the last big SS “overhaul” (tax increase, older eligibility) went thru back in 81 or 82. Obviously a scam, I thought, and I was correct.
Face it folks, the money is all gone. Those green papers are worth something in trade right up until it is not convenient for our rulers to insist that they are worth something, at which point they might make a nice, warm fire. Poor people have nothing to worry about, but you folks that saved and scrimped and invested, and think you have something of value in all that green paper? Not for longer than is convenient for someone else who wants all you have, and is going to get it one way or another. The only things of true and lasting value have nothing at all to do with government issued paper, or pretty bits of metal.
Merry Christmas. The truly Faithful believers have nothing to worry about. The rest of you better re-examine your premises.
By 2035 a trillion dollars will be a rounding error. When SS goes bankrupt, it is just going to be part of a much much bigger problem. My prediction is that the chickens will come home to roost before 2035. Only really sharp people can comprehend how bad this is going to be.
Trust fund!? It doesn’t exist.
All of those red lines you see are fiat $ that will have to be borrowed by Uncle Sugar to cover the money they spent, going back to Viet Nam, if not before.
My Econ 101 professor explained it in great detail in ’72. He was off by a couple of decades due to the tweaks they made in the 80’s, but it is all coming down with a gigantic crash. The Great Reset is due and will wipe out many of us financially and physically.
Never did but it should have been untouchable to all but those who paid in
Howe can a government creating something from nothing run out of nothing ? Hardly seems feasible.
Ponzi schemes always fail.
Receipts for social security taxes are used for a number of programs including welfare, housing, food stamps, etc. Clinton changed the accounting rules and all extra SS money is now held in Treasury securities. The SC ruled in 1930’s that the SS intake and the SS expenses are to separate and self-standing programs.
I say get it while you can. They like to say “defer taking it until you’re 70 to get the max monthly benefit”.
The dollar is losing value. If you wait till 70 you’ll get more valueless currency. If you die before you’re 81 years old, waiting for the max benefit would be a losing strategy. Also, your Medicare premium can rise negating any benefit from waiting. Because I believe your Medicare premium locks in when you first start taking you SS benefit.
By starting early it will take until you’re 81 for the max benefit to exceed the total benefit paid when starting at 65.
When I can I turn my SS payment into something with inherent and timeless value. Something that will outlive green pieces of paper.
Enough!!!! I do not want to see another BS SS article. If admin gets money for these articles then fine, I can support that. The SS “Trust Fund” is broke because the whole US govt is broke. Trillion dollar deficits means US of A is broke….does anyone not get that???? Ponzi scheme??? It is worse than that your SS tax goes into a bottomless pit. The only thing that keeps this house of cards propped up is the good ole American dollar which is a printed piece of paper not worth the paper it is printed on, well it is worth something, for now. Once that dollar fails SS, and every federal entitlement program will be net zero…fail! So maybe gold will work but I would rather have food, bullets, etc. because when and if the dollar fails, that is the optimist in me, times will really be bad and…um, I do not think gold will carry that much weight. My opinion I could be wrong!
Paid on 42 plus years , cut congresses salaries and retirement cut the pentagon budget cut every government agency but FUCK YOU PAY ME !
Or restore my pension that was bankrupted , pay up the interest my life savings should have made and then we can talk about cutting my social security insurance payments because my employer and myself paid the premiums now I collect the benefit . You can shit section 8 welfare payments for landlords so cut a few of those and let the property owner accept what the renter can pay ! It’s not up to the taxpayer to make rental properties pay off for investors .
Like my social security money paid in if properly managed and invested this would not be an issue now would it !
America is in trouble. You cannot have more debt and unfunded liabilities that a greater than all the wealth in the world and not be in trouble.