For many years, Washington has been full of talk about running out of money to fund Social Security benefits. While American workers continuously pay into the system every time they get a paycheck, the system has a flaw where it is paying out more than it is taking in.
Discussions on Capital Hill have touched on this issue multiple times, but it always ended up pushed to the background due to other more pressing issues. But the time to act is coming soon, as NPR reports the Social Security Administration will not have enough money to pay all benefits by 2033.
Ten years of funds
Ten years is not a long time to fix the system, especially when nobody can seem to agree on how to do it. The issues began to get serious in 2021 when the benefits paid were more than the money taken in for the first time. Up to that point, it was known that would happen sooner rather than later. But even with that point crossed, there is little going on to figure out a solution.
A hit to recipients
Those receiving benefits from the SSA will experience a change in their benefits if lawmakers do not find a solution. The projection is that the SSA will have to cut benefits, which are already rather low for most recipients. The estimate is a cut of 23% to 25%.
There is no proposal by the current administration on how to fix Social Security. The only viable solution is to increase Social Security taxes, lower benefits or do both, but there is not a huge movement to do those things, leaving recipients hanging on whether they will be able to rely on this income in the future.
