The 2011 OASDI trustees report says projected costs are not sustainable as it has done for some time

[dkf]

A MESSAGE TO THE PUBLIC:
Each year the Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare trust funds report on the current and projected financial status of the two programs. This message summarizes our 2011 Annual Reports.

The financial conditions of the Social Security and Medicare programs remain challenging. Projected long-run program costs for both Medicare and Social Security are not sustainable under currently scheduled financing, and will require legislative modifications if disruptive consequences for beneficiaries and taxpayers are to be avoided.

The long-run financial challenges facing Social Security and Medicare should be addressed soon. If action is taken sooner rather than later, more options and more time will be available to phase in changes so that those affected have adequate time to prepare. Earlier action will also afford elected officials with a greater opportunity to minimize adverse impacts on vulnerable populations, including lower-income workers and those who are already substantially dependent on program benefits.

Both Social Security and Medicare, the two largest federal programs, face substantial cost growth in the upcoming decades due to factors that include population aging as well as the growth in expenditures per beneficiary. Through the mid-2030s, due to the large baby-boom generation entering retirement and lower-birth-rate generations entering employment, population aging is the largest single factor contributing to cost growth in the two programs. Thereafter, the continued rapid growth in health care cost per beneficiary becomes the larger factor.

http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TRSUM/index.html

[kirby]

1. People don't want to hear this...

They have their head in the sand.

[damntexdem]

2. Emergency! Emergency! Quick, panic! Only 25 years to a funding shortfall!

Yeah, it would be best to resolve the funding issues now, a quarter century before SS has its problem. And the fix is really quite simple: raise or eliminate the FICA tax cap. But the political climate is totally wrong for taking needed action now -- and much more likely to lead to taking the wrong actions.

[dkf]

3. Yet the treasury issues 30 year bonds.

So from a ratings pov this is relevant.

[kirby]

4. The law requires planning out 75 years...

The problem is when would the political climate be correct? There is a reason they call this the third rail of politics.