Aug. 19, 2023 - Epoch Times
09:49
| 
| Time | Text |
|---|---|
| According to a new analysis of the current state of the Social Security program, within the next 10 years, if nothing changes, the average retired couple will see their benefits get reduced by a whopping $17,400. | |
| It will get reduced by that large amount at the very same time that inflation over the next 10 years will make goods and services significantly more expensive. | |
| Now, this report was published just last week by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. | |
| This is a non-partisan organization which studies and analyzes the federal budget. | |
| And after looking into it quite deeply, they found that the Social Security Trust Fund is rapidly approaching the point of becoming insolvent. | |
| Specifically, they found that by the year 2033... | |
| Which is just 10 years from now, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which is what funds the Social Security program, will completely deplete its reserves. | |
| And once that happens, once the Social Security Trust Fund runs out of reserves, federal law mandates that, quote, the Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund can only spend in amounts equal to incoming trust fund revenue, which means that all 70 million retirees, dependents, and survivors, regardless of age, income, or need, will see their benefits cut by 23%. | |
| A 23% haircut, meaning you've been taxed your entire life in order to put money into this Social Security fund. | |
| But due to rampant bureaucratic mismanagement, a quarter of that money will be cut. | |
| And this cut will differ for couples at different income levels. | |
| In fact, within this report, there's a graph showing the different dollar amount losses that Americans would experience. | |
| You can see them up on your screen. | |
| The blue bar represents a single income couple, while the orange bar represents a dual income couple. | |
| As you can see, if you are a low income couple, you stand to lose about $10,000 in benefits. | |
| A medium income couple stands to lose about $17,000 in benefits. | |
| While a high-income couple stands to lose about $23,000 in Social Security benefits. | |
| And what's really worth mentioning here about those numbers is that even though the dollar amount that's being cut for the low-income couple is smaller, it would represent a larger share of their overall income, meaning that after the Social Security trust becomes insolvent, you'll see a corresponding spike in the rate of senior poverty. | |
| Now, the reason that the Social Security program is becoming insolvent is You can say multifaceted. | |
| To start with, after it was first introduced by FDR, Social Security at the very beginning provided only for the retired, for the unemployed, and for disadvantaged Americans. | |
| However, since then, the program has ballooned to now cover almost everyone, the payouts are larger, it now includes a disability benefit, which many people take advantage of, and, of course, back in 1965, Social Security got into the business of healthcare, with the introduction of both Medicare as well as Medicaid. | |
| Furthermore, due to the declining birth rate, alongside a corresponding massive baby boomer population entering the retirement age, the ratio of workers per beneficiary has declined tremendously. | |
| For instance, back in the 1960s, each Social Security beneficiary was supported by about 5.1 workers. | |
| However, right now, that number is trending towards about 2.1 workers for every beneficiary. | |
| And what this amounts to is a looming disaster. | |
| Because let me give you a bit of backstory here. | |
| For the last several decades, the Social Security Administration was flush with cash. | |
| All workers across the country pay a 6.2% tax on their income, which is then matched by their employer, for a total of 12.4%. | |
| Now, for a period of about 30-plus years, the Social Security Administration took in more money than they gave out, which is why they established the trust and invested the excess money in order to get a return, mostly by putting it into Treasury bonds. | |
| However, starting in the year 2010, the money that they were taking in was no longer sufficient to cover the payments that were going out. | |
| And so, what the Social Security Administration began to do is to use the interest that was earned on the trust in order to pay out the seniors. | |
| And since the year 2010, this practice just continued to grow. | |
| In the year 2016, there was a $75 billion deficit, which was covered by the interest on the trust fund. | |
| In 2019, the interest on the fund covered an $80 billion deficit. | |
| And starting two years ago, in the year 2021, the interest was no longer enough to make up the shortfall, and so the Social Security Administration had to start dipping into the actual principal in the trust fund. | |
| And according to this report, this can only last for another 10 years, at which point the fund will just run out of money. | |
| And then once those reserves are gone, according to federal law, the Social Security benefits that you and I will receive will be reduced by 23%. | |
| And perhaps the most ironic thing about all of this is that our political system has devolved into such a kabuki theater that while on the surface you have both political parties claimed to be pro-social security, they make a special point to express that support for social security by expressly telling the public that they won't touch it. | |
| But by not touching it, it means that by default, the program will collapse in on itself within the next 10 years, which is something that this report made a special point to mention. | |
| As the 2024 presidential campaign ramps up, candidates are facing pressure to pledge not to touch Social Security. | |
| While this pledge is framed as protecting benefits, it is, in reality, an implicit endorsement of a 23% across-the-board benefit cut in 2033 when the Social Security Retirement Fund becomes insolvent. | |
| Any 2024 presidential candidate who pledges not to touch Social Security is implicitly endorsing a 23% across-the-board benefit cut for the 70 million retirees when the Social Security Retirement Trust Fund reaches insolvency in just a decade. | |
| And indeed, by looking at the comments that are coming from the main 2024 competitors, we see the same theme. | |
| We're pro-Social Security, and therefore, we won't be touching it. | |
| For instance, in a State of the Union address, Joe Biden, he said the following, quote, Some Republicans want Medicare and Social Security to sunset every five years. | |
| I won't let that happen. | |
| Social Security and Medicare are a lifeline for millions of seniors. | |
| If anyone tries to cut Social Security, I will stop them. | |
| I will mention that that remark of his was met by jeering from the Republican caucus in Congress, some of whom yelled that he was lying. | |
| Regardless, you have the same sort of messaging coming from the GOP as well. | |
| For instance, here was President Trump speaking on the topic of Social Security. | |
| The Democrats are looking to destroy Social Security. | |
| We're not going to let them do that. | |
| Then you also had Ron DeSantis, who's of course also in the running for the 2024 Republican ticket, saying the following, quote, And so it appears that Social Security is something that everyone wants to claim allegiance to, while at the same time, no one really appears to be interested in solving the fundamental underlying problems with the system. | |
| Which might actually be a great metaphor for modern-day politics in general. | |
| And so that is the situation as it currently stands. | |
| Now, I will mention that there have been some policy measures over the past few years which have been proposed to fix some of these Social Security-related problems. | |
| But it's also worth mentioning that all of them revolve around you, the taxpayer who's been paying into the system for your whole life, getting either less money and or paying higher taxes to keep going into the system. | |
| And so... | |
| All this really reminds me of that great joke from Milton Friedman which goes like this, quote, If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there'd be a shortage of sand. | |
| And indeed, you allow the federal government to take 12.4% of your income for the better part of the last century, and suddenly, there's not enough money left for retirement. | |
| If you'd like to dig through this report for yourself, I'll throw a link to it. | |
| It'll be down in the description box below this video for you to peruse at your own leisure, which I'll mention is that same description box right below those like and subscribe buttons, both of which I hope you take a quick moment to smash so that this content can reach ever more people via the YouTube algorithm. | |
| Now, let me quickly introduce the sponsor of today's episode by showing you this little canine nutritional supplement. | |
| That's right, this right here is the NutraThrive brand of supplement for dogs, and this stuff is just great. | |
| It contains the minerals and nutrients that your dog needs in order to stay happy and healthy well into old age. | |
| Because if you're only feeding them the ultra-processed, pressure-cooked dog food, they might really be missing out on a lot of the key nutrients that they need in order to stay healthy in the long term. | |
| And what's really cool is that Dr. | |
| Gary Richter, who was once named America's favorite veterinarian by the American Veterinary Medical Foundation, Well, Dr. | |
| Richter lays out how these can be the warning signs of bad health And also, how the first thing that should be looked at is nutrition. | |
| In that video, Dr. | |
| Richter laid out how he's used nutrition to help dogs all over the world. | |
| And so again, check out that video over at ultimatedoghealth.com forward slash Roman for your convenience. | |
| I'll also throw it into the description box below. | |
| And then lastly, I'd like to quickly mention that if you are as sick and tired of all the censorship on this platform, as well as all the other platforms, then you're in luck. | |
| Because the Epoch Times has extended its awesome sale on subscriptions. | |
| Just 25 cents a week for the whole year. | |
| Which, if you do the math, works itself out to just be a single dollar a month. | |
| And so, if you've been on the fence about subscribing to the Epoch Times, maybe you want a source of honest news, you've been going over to the website, but you get hit with a paywall over and over again and it's getting frustrating, well, perhaps take the sale as an opportunity to try the Epoch Times out for yourself. | |
| I'll throw a link, it'll be down there in the description box below this video. | |
| You can click on that link and try the Epoch Times out, again, for just a single dollar a month. | |
| That way, you'll get unlimited access to quite literally everything that we publish. | |
| All the awesome movies, the videos, the documentaries, all of our infographics, our in-depth stories, our research and analysis, all of it. | |
| You'll get access to all of our content for just a single dollar a month. | |
| Again, that link will be right there at the top of the description box below. | |
| Hope you check it out. | |
| And then until next time, I'm your host, Roman from the Epoch Times. | |
| Stay informed. |
Export Selection