Social Security trustees

(Newser) - After yesterday’s news that Social Security and Medicare funds will run out of money earlier than previously predicted, it’s the latter that should really scare us, former Labor secretary Robert Reich writes for Salon. A slight tax tweak fixes Social Security, but “Medicare is entirely different. It’...

(Newser) - The recession has hurt the already-shaky finances of Medicare and Social Security, the Washington Post reports. Medicare is now projected to run out of money in 2017, two years earlier than the last projection. Social Security, meanwhile, is expected to be insolvent in 2037, four years earlier. The annual report...

(Newser) - Social Security and Medicare still face financial problems down the road, but the situation became no worse last year, trustees for the programs said today. The trustees predict that Social Security will become insolvent in 2041, Medicare in 2019. True to form, Republicans sounded alarms about the issue while Democrats...

(Newser) - Slashing benefits or hiking taxes—or both—is the only way to make the Social Security system solvent, reports a Treasury Department briefing paper. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned that faster economic growth alone won't solve the money problems of  Social Security, which faces a $13.6 trillion shortfall in...