Getting Social Security on a more stable path is hard but essential – 2 experts suggest a way forward
No big Social Security reforms have taken effect since the Reagan administration. David Hume Kennerly/Getty Images Social Security is in trouble. The retirement and disability program has been running a cash-flow deficit since 2010. Its trust fund, which holds US$2.7 trillion, is rapidly diminishing. Social Security’s trustees, a group that includes the secretaries of the departments of Treasury, Labor, and Health and Human Services, as well as the Social Security commissioner, project that the trust fund will be completely drained by 2033. Under current law, when that trust fund is empty, Social Security can pay benefits only from dedicated tax