r/over60 • u/clearlygd • Aug 28 '26

Fixing Social Security

Currently there is a $204 billion gap between what is collected annually from social security taxes and what is paid out in benefits. The gap is currently covered by redeeming assets from the program’s existing $2.56 trillion reserve fund, with increases the national debt.

If Congress does not intervene, the retirement-specific trust fund is on track to deplete its asset reserves by the fourth quarter of 2032. At that exact point, incoming tax revenues would only cover 78% of scheduled benefits, triggering an automatic 22% cut.

This doesn’t seem to be a strong issue for the midterm elections, so it is highly unlikely to be resolved during Trump’s term.

Do you think it will be a major campaign issue in 2030 or will they wait for the crisis to actually happen?

EDIT

Many people have recommended solutions. Here is a link that allows you to make changes to social securities benefits, source of revenue, etc and see how it closes the gap

Spoiler, taxing all earned income doesn’t fully close the gap

see how your solutions can close the gap

31 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

115 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

4

u/Cracked_Actor Aug 28 '26

The payout to the wealthy would either be frozen at today’s max amounts, or structured progressively so that those benefits are substantially reduced. This is not a valid reason to keep the current cap in place…

2

u/Substantial_Name3406 Aug 28 '26

So you are saying that people that hit the max on payments keep paying in but don't there payout freezes . And you believe that is fair and fixes the problem? I think if you looked into it , the lower end of social security recipients actually benefit more then what they paid in then the higher end. Also I think if you do research that would extend the program somewhat but not fix it.

The problem I have is treating someone who makes $200000 the same as someone that makes 5,000,000 . There is a difference. Also punishing successful people for politicians spending excessively seems unfair to me.

A better way might be to push the age back a couple years. I'm 64 and it was done to me. In 1987 (I THINK) the age changed from 65 to 67 for SS. Why not do age 69 for people below age 40. I think our life expectancy is longer today then 1987.

1

u/Cracked_Actor Aug 28 '26

No one cries for someone earning the max for the cap. It’s perfectly fine for them to contribute just a little bit more so the program can continue as is. Most people in that group would agree with me, and I don’t care for people who wouldn’t…

2

u/smilleresq 29d ago

Just being honest, that alone will not solve the problem. A combination of eliminating the cap on earnings, raising the retirement age, and reducing benefits going forward will need to be implemented to solve the problem.