{"id":17432,"date":"2016-06-23T14:26:39","date_gmt":"2016-06-23T21:26:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goldcopreciousmetals.com\/?p=17432"},"modified":"2026-01-18T19:17:54","modified_gmt":"2026-01-19T03:17:54","slug":"official-social-security-will-tapped-less-twenty-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goldco.com\/official-social-security-will-tapped-less-twenty-years\/","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Official: Social Security Will Be Tapped Out in Less Than Twenty Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Social Security and Medicare trustees released their annual reports on Wednesday with a simple warning: If Congress does nothing to address the shortfall in funding the Social Security fund deficit will reach critical mass<\/a> in fewer than twenty years. Medicare is in only slightly better shape, with escalating costs for medication and services pushing the healthcare fund into the red by 2028. Although two decades sound like plenty of time, due to the way government budget cycles work rescuing these funds we\u2019re all relying on will require quick action by Congress.<\/p>\n

If Congress does nothing, and they\u2019ve done a lot of nothing over the last few years, that doesn\u2019t necessarily mean Social Security would completely stop sending money. In a worst-case scenario it means they\u2019d only be able to pay around 79% of promised benefits. But in an increasingly shaky world economy that\u2019s hardly comforting news.<\/p>\n

What About the Trust Fund?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Social Security is supposed to be entirely self-financing and, in theory, should not impact the federal budget at all. But the Trust Fund, which is supposed to have nearly three trillion dollars in it, is little more than an accounting trick these days. That\u2019s because over the years Congress has \u201cborrowed\u201d the money from the trust fund but never paid it back<\/a>.\u00a0 Now that the bill is coming due that same Congress has limited options for making up the shortfall.<\/p>\n

Raising Social Security Taxes<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Normally Congress would just borrow to pay back the Social Security Trust Fund, but now that plan is running smack into the federal debt ceiling. That leaves Congress with three increasingly ugly options:<\/p>\n