2018 Is the Date To Watch

In 2018, the money being paid in to the Social Security program by workers is projected to fall below the amount of money being paid out of the Social Security program to retirees. "No problem.", some say, "We'll just draw on the current Social Security surplus to make up the difference."

Well, its true that there's currently a surplus in the Social Security program on paper, but that's all it is: paper. The "surplus" is entirely in the form of IOUs from the U.S. government. There is NO stack of money sitting somewhere labeled "Social Security Surplus". That money has been spent. When 2018 rolls around, and we try to draw from the "surplus", those IOUs will have to be paid off to do so. How will we pay off the IOUs? Raising taxes or cutting benefits. There's no other way.

The 2042 date is meaningless, because that's the date the money represented by those IOUs would run out. It ignores how we'll get the money to pay off those IOUs.

This is a crisis of epic proportions. We need to get this fixed, and we need to fix it NOW.