Social Security

The Social Security Crisis is now worse than previously thought.  Each year, the Social Security Trustee’s Report updates us on the status of the Social Security Crisis.  The most recent trustee’s report indicated that it would be 2016 before Social Security began paying out more in benefits than it collects in payroll taxes.  However, the most recent White House budget figures show that in 2009, Social Security actually paid more in benefits than it collected in payroll taxes.  Read the rest of this entry »

A crisis is headed our way in Social Security Insurance.  For years, we’ve been hearing that the Social Security Trust Fund would run out of money. The recent economic recession only worsened the outlook for Social Security Insurance.

According to current projections by the trustees responsible for the Social Security Trust Fund, the Social Security program will begin to pay out more benefits than in collects in taxes beginning in Read the rest of this entry »

How much is our National Debt Service?  Stated another way, how much is the interest on the United States’ National Debt?

In the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009, the interest on the national debt was $383 billion, making Interest Expense one of the largest components of the federal budget.  In fact, interest on the national debt accounted for over 27% of our 2009 federal budget deficit. That’s a lot of “National Debt Service”, but it could have been much worse.

Current low interest rates are keeping our national debt service numbers from being astronomical, but this will change in future years for two reasons. Read the rest of this entry »

According to the most recent Social Security Trustees’ Report, the Social Security Trust Fund is being depleted more quickly than previously thought.  Social Security is now expected to be paying out more than it takes in by 2016, which is more than a year sooner than had been projected in the previous trustees’ annual report. Read the rest of this entry »