August 2022 - Despite the rhetoric you've heard coming from the ideologues on the far right and some of the greedier firms on Wall Street, Social Security is not going broke and it is not going away. Begun in the 1930's as one of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal programs, Social Security is one of the most successful and popular government programs ever established.

But for some reason, a lot of Republicans and Wall Street types have never like Social Security and they're just trying to scare you into thinking it can't survive.

Fortunately for the rest of us, they're just plain wrong.

(image from usatoday.com)

Here are the facts, per the financial and actuarial professionals whose reputations and livelihoods are based on providing accurate, objective financial analyses. The numbers we cite were published in the most recent annual report from the Social Security Board of Trustees. You'll see that the facts don't support the storylines you regularly hear from the political distortionists on right-wing talk radio and from a certain cable "news" network:

Social Security's Old Age and Survivors Insurance can continue paying out current levels of benefits through 2035.
After 2035, and assuming no changes to the system, Social Security still will be able to pay ~80% of current benefit levels in perpetuity.
Minor tweaks to the system prior to that time will allow us to maintain 100% of current benefit levels even after 2035
There is even better news on the Disability Income side of Social Security: it can continue paying 100% of benefits for the next 75 years, even without any changes to the system.

That doesn't sound like a system going broke or one that is going away, does it?

So the next time you hear someone try and tell you otherwise, just quote the President and tell them "that's a bunch of malarkey". Remember, we've got the financial facts on our side, so assure them not to worry: Social Security is here for the long-haul...unless the Dems get voted out of office and the far right (i.e., the Tea Partiers, Rick Scott, the Freedom Caucus, etc.) get their hands on it.

{Update: February 2023 - As Republican Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida is being encouraged to run for President in 2024, his voting record as a member of the Freedom Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives is being closely examined. And guess what? He is on record and voted against Social Security when he was in Congress.}

Is Social Security Impacting the Federal Budget Deficit?

While we're at it, let's discuss another misconception that conservatives like to promote regarding Social Security. When discussing the federal budget, many conservatives either imply or state outright that Social Security is one of the reasons the federal government has been running a budget deficit in recent years.

Not true. To put this misconception to rest, we'll turn to Ronald Reagan who addressed this issue during the 1984 Presidential debates:

As we find ourselves repeatedly saying, it's too bad that today's conservatives, who like to hold up President Reagan as their hero, have gone off the deep end and are no longer in sync with what Mr. Reagan actually said and believed.

See more 'Right Wing Myth-Busting'

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