Social Security

CBO Offers 121 Ways to Shrink the Deficit

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Congressional Budget Office has released a 326-page guide that describes dozens of ways the federal government could reduce its large and growing budget deficit. The 121 policy options included...
Moody’s Warns of Declining US Fiscal Strength

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Trump’s tax cuts combined with a slowing economy will diminish the United States’ “fiscal strength” over the next 10 years, Moody’s Investor Service said Wednesday. The gradual decline could pressure...
3 Ideas for Fixing Social Security

By Yuval Rosenberg

Social Security’s trustees reported earlier this year that the program will spend more than it collects in 2018 , requiring it to tap into its $2.9 trillion trust fund to cover benefit payments. It’s...
Transfer Payments Hit $3 Trillion Annual Pace

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Total government transfers reached $3 trillion on an annualized basis for the first time in September, according to data released by the Bureau of Economic Analysis Monday. Transfer payments include...
Democrats Take Aim at Republicans on Entitlement Cuts

By Michael Rainey

Democrats have a new sledgehammer of a study they can use in trying to link Republican tax cuts and proposed cuts to Medicare, Social Security and other social welfare programs. A report released...

McConnell: Entitlement Cuts Probably Won’t Happen Under Trump

By Yuval Rosenberg

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) unleashed a storm of Democratic criticism earlier this week by telling Bloomberg News that rising deficits and debt are driven by Social Security,...
Mitch McConnell on Rising Deficit: ‘It’s Not a Republican Problem'

By Yuval Rosenberg

The quotes: “It’s disappointing, but it’s not a Republican problem. It’s a bipartisan problem: unwillingness to address the real drivers of the debt by doing anything to adjust those programs to the...
A Fiscal Hawk’s New Plan to ‘Avert a Debt Crisis’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The national debt rose by more than $1 trillion in fiscal 2018, and yet lawmakers have evinced little concern about it ahead of this year’s elections, instead pushing tax cuts and spending increases...
How GOP Rhetoric on Entitlements Has Changed

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The Washington Post’s David Weigel describes how Republicans have changed their tune on Medicare and, for this year at least, largely abandoned the idea of entitlement reform: “[O]ver eight years,...
Kudlow: ‘I Don’t Buy’ That Tax Cuts Boosted Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow is at it again. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the top economic adviser to President Trump said that, while the administration is looking to cut federal spending — including...

The Deficit Is Up 20% This Year

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1...
Chart of the Day: Americans Using Government Programs

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families delivers cash aid to about 2.5 million people, or less than 1 percent of the U.S. population — “far smaller than the share...
A Growing Problem for Seniors: Bankruptcy

By Yuval Rosenberg

The New York Times reports on new research that suggests a growing problem for seniors: “The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and...
US Interest Costs Will Match Social Security Spending by 2048, CBO Says

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday confirmed what we already knew: The U.S. faces a rising tide of red ink, with the national debt as a share of the economy projected to nearly double over...
Why the Social Security Disability Fund Is Looking Healthier

By Michael Rainey

The Social Security trustees’ report released earlier this month estimated that the Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds will run out of reserves in 2032, four years later than expected. The...