Social Security “Trust Fund” Deficits to Add $5 Trillion to U.S. Debt


Sunday May 15th, 2011   •   Posted by David Theroux at 9:39am PDT   •   3 Comments

Jed Graham in Investor’s Business Daily reports that a new study of the financial condition of Social Security and Medicare indicate that with baby boomer retirements, rising health costs, and the ongoing economic malaise, these federal entitlement programs are producing massive deficits in perpetuity unless major changes are made to cut these unsustainable liabilities.

Social Security and Medicare — the elephants sidelined in the latest budget talk — took center stage Friday as trustees’ annual reports showed both programs’ finances have deteriorated.

Social Security’s trust fund — which gives it carte blanche to spend beyond the government’s means until its IOUs from the Treasury Department run out — is now seen running empty in 2036, a year earlier.

Medicare’s Hospital Insurance trust fund reserves are projected to dry up in 2024, five years earlier than in the 2010 report.

The big picture is that spending on these entitlements for seniors and the disabled is on pace to rise more than 50% faster than the economy from 2007 to 2030.

Fueled by baby boomer retirements and rising medical costs, the programs are projected to cost 11.3% of GDP in two decades vs. 7.4% in 2007. This year, they’ll cost 8.5% of GDP, or 37% of non-interest spending.


For the full article, please click here.



3 Responses to “Social Security “Trust Fund” Deficits to Add $5 Trillion to U.S. Debt”

  1. thom gagne says:

    Another “spin”, LIE, and the usual scare tactic from Washington and around the beltway. Rising medical costs???? – Who’s in charge of that?? US?? Do we NOT determine what ANY given service or product is worth by what we are willing to pay for it? When the answer to the medical bill is “absolutely NOT” and that is the answer from everyone – What are the Hospitals, Doctors, etc.. going to do??? Not provide the service, then NOT bill anyone????? And then what??? Close for lack of customers??? I think NOT!! When the American public takes BACK the cost of everything by simply NOT BUYING, USING, WANTING anything until the prices are in line with what the vast majority of people can afford – JUST SAY NO!!!!! This constant barrage of bull%$*# about deficits, rising costs is man-made and NOT TRUTH!! What will happen if nobody pays – USA going to close – I THINK NOT!!!! Grow a backbone America and start being in charge of your lives!! The MONEY THING is a smoke-screen for the gazillionaires to increase their personal wealth ONL !!

  2. BambiB says:

    Unfortunately, medical care is frequently not an option. And the system is designed to FORCE people to procure care from “official” sources.

    Take the case of a kidney stone. Very painful, but generally not life-threatening, so long as the patient can maintain hydration until the stone passes. Unfortunately, one of the side effects is EXTREME nausea – so strong, that the patient vomits up everything in their stomach – water, medication – everything.

    And so the vicious cycle: Without hydration, there’s not enough fluid to flush out the stone. But while the stone is in place, it causes severe nausea, which prevents the patient from keeping any water down with which to wash out the stone.

    The solution? A couple bags of IV saline and a pain killer. The cost for the saline is about $4 per bag. The pain killer (Toradol, an non-narcotic NSAID) costs a couple bucks for a 2 day supply, more than enough for most stones. Total cost, including the plumbing for the IV drip – less than 20 bucks. The patient is typically stone-free in a matter of hours and should probably receive a short course in antibiotics as a follow up (currently free at most pharmacies).

    The alternative? A trip to the Emergency Room. The cost? Just shy of $5000.

    Now, why would anyone choose to go to the ER when they can treat the problem themselves for less than $20?

    BECAUSE THE SYSTEM PREVENTS THEM FROM TAKING CARE OF THEMSELVES.

    You can get the saline solution over the internet. But the needle to introduce it into your vein? Need a prescription for that. That pain killer? The one that’s not even a narcotic? Prescription item too.

    The government has taken away from the American People the right to control their own medical well-being and turned it over to the priesthood of medical professionals, who then use it as a license to steal.

    How else do you explain a 25000% markup?

    This must end.

  3. juswonderin says:

    I’m sorry everyone, but Social Security/Medicare is NOT an entitlement! I’ve worked since I was 15 & now I’m 67 & I have paid into MY Social Security/Medicare for MANY years! The gov’t STOLE OUR money & never tried to return it, but put useless IOU’s in it! For decades, they’ve raided, robbed & used it as their own “PIGGY BANK” Medicaid on the other hand is an entitlement & most of it goes to the healthy, strong YOUNG people as they continue to have babies out of wedlock & don’t work!!! The ILLEGAL immigrants are sucking up ALL the help that the truly poor needs! Along with ending billions of $$ to foreign countries, the U.N. the ‘GREEN’ movement, there should be no reason to cut Social Security/Medicare. My mantra on that is “If you didn’t pay into it, you don’t get to received it .... not ONE dime of it. It was supposed to be ONLY for the elderly & THEIR care. One day you may get old & no one wants to hire you; are YOUR savings or ‘VOUCHERS’ going to help you? Look at the big picture here! Now the illegals are flying THEIR flags above the U.S. flag & WalMart is flying the Mexican flags in their stores & McDonald’s is flying OUR flag UPSIDE DOWN; soon, we’ll become the real NEW MEXICO! Then there will be NO unions, and we’ll have MEXICAN healthcare & THEIR currency ... UNLESS of course our gov’t becomes the NORTH AMERICAN UNION & AMERIOS FOR MONEY! First off, we NEED to get the U.N OUT OF THE U.S. & THE U.S. OUT OF THE U.N.!!!!!! Billions of $$ go to that useless & dangerous entity & it’s stacked with countries that want only to kill us & take us over. There is so much waste in our gov’t & if that was taken care of, we wouldn’t be in such a bind....our gov’t needs to USE COMMONSENSE!!! Well, that’s MY rant!

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