In a completely predictable turn of events, one of the Ponzi schemes that the federal government has been running is set to collapse in just a few short years. Here’s this, from an item out at FOX Business today:
The head actuaries for Social Security and Medicare testified before a House panel on Thursday about the two safety net programs’ looming financial woes that could see key trust funds depleted in roughly a decade, which would leave beneficiaries facing a benefit cut if the funding gap isn’t resolved by Congress.
Trustees for Social Security and Medicare recently released a report that looked at the health of the key trust funds that found that key trust funds are on pace to be depleted in roughly a decade. When that happens, those programs would only be able to pay out what they receive through incoming payroll tax receipts, meaning benefits would be automatically cut under current law.
Here are some of the specifics:
Social Security’s Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) trust fund is expected to be depleted in 2033, when just 79% of scheduled benefits would be payable. When merged with the Disability Insurance (DI) fund, the date shifts to 2035 with 83% of benefits payable. Based on the $1,907 average monthly benefit as of January 2024, that 17% cut would leave beneficiaries with a $1,582 check — $325 less per month and $3,900 less per year.
So not only will there be cuts—a guarantee if we simply don’t do anything different—but you’ll likely be taxed on it. In some cases, social security benefits are already taxed, a 1983 development signed into law by Ronald Reagan (I’m not a fan at all) with the help of a yes-vote from then-senator Joe Biden, but if you can count on a big-minded federal government to do anything, it’s raise taxes.
Aside from the cuts and taxation though, can you even imagine how much less the dollar will be worth by 2033? If you missed it, the 50-year “petrodollar” contract between the United States and Saudi Arabia just expired this past Sunday, which means the wealthy oil-producing nation will begin selling its black gold in currencies other than the dollar—this agreement was “the cornerstone of the United States global economic dominance” and its end “is anticipated to hasten the global shift away from the US dollar.” This is why we’ve been able to spend $35 trillion into debt and still largely survive, because the dollar has, but is rapidly losing, worldwide influence.
But there’s more! Don’t forget what inflation and the cost-of-living crisis will look like in 2033, especially if D.C. politicians keep spending like they do—which is obviously also a guarantee, because why would they stop? That’s not how greed and gluttony works because greedy and gluttonous people aren’t ever satiated.
But wait, hold up, I thought I saw in the news today Joe Biden just signed a 10-year financial promise, in large part to fund state retirement programs, like social security? Oh that’s right, it was for Ukraine, not the American people.
This isn’t to excuse Bernie Madoff whatsoever, but some federal prosecutors owe him a huge apology for the obvious two-tiered justice system. Why should he go away when the federal government has been committing the exact same crime for longer than he did?
I’ll leave you with this little nugget of information; get ready to seethe:
Image: Free image, Pixabay license.