Retirement Dread Is Replacing the American Dream

With informed discussion, creative thinking, and timely legislative action, Social Security can continue to protect future generations.

That boilerplate language has been featured more or less verbatim in the yearly status report from the trustees of the Social Security and Medicare funds since 2001, through presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and now, Donald Trump.

It's the numbers that have changed dramatically, as the U.S. population ages. The 2003 report noted that “Social Security plays a critical role in the lives of over 46 million beneficiaries, and over 150 million covered workers and their families.” The report released late last week cites 61 million beneficiaries and 171 million covered workers and their families. That’s an increase of more than 32 percent and 14 percent, respectively, over 13 years.

The outlook for the program is pretty grim. The trust fund for Social Security's retirement and disability benefits will stop being fully funded in 2034, as projected last year. If no solution is found, promised benefits will take about a 25 percent cut. Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund is projected to suffer a similar fate in 2029.