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America's Fiscal Future: Still Bad, But... | |
By ScottBittle on May 14th, 2009
The economic crisis is taking its toll on all sorts of things, and it turns out Social Security and Medicare are no different. The annual trustees' report on the two programs finds the outlook for the two programs has become substantially worse, largely because more people unemployed means fewer people paying in. Medicare is in worse shape, by far. The trustees conclude that Medicare is already paying out more than it takes in, and that its trust fund reserves will be exhausted in 2017. Social Security has more time – it won't start drawing on its trust fund until 2016, and its reserves are projected to last until 2037. This report takes its place in a long line of trustee reports warning that these programs can't be sustained. The surprising thing, in fact, is how little the fundamental issues have changed. Every year the trustees move the dates around, but the conclusion never changes: the combination of skyrocketing health care costs and an aging population make these programs financially fragile. So far, however, very little's been done to solve it. As a nation, we don't take a hard look at the options – and there are options out there. Nor do we have the kind of discussions needed to really bring the public into this debate. At Facingup.org, you can make a start on both. Our nonpartisan Students Face Up to the Nation's Finances curriculum offers easy-to-understand choices and tools for holding classroom discussions around this problem. Colleges around the country are already using the curriculum. After all, today's students are the ones who'll have to live with whatever decisions we make now. And the time to act is getting short. 1 comment on this entry |
Changing Expectations
»A new report finds the main problem in getting the public to deal with our fiscal problems isn't opposition to tax increases or spending cuts -- it's their lack of trust in the government to spend their money wisely. |
usmint.gov
The economic crisis is taking its toll on all sorts of things, and it turns out Social Security and Medicare is no different. This is really I bad news to all of us since we are still in deep recession. In relation to financial crisis, did you hear a about Usmint.gov? This is cool site for coin collectors, especially collectors of coins made by the U.S. Mint, which are quite valuable. Usmint.gov has information on some upcoming coins, especially the Presidential series of $1 coins. One of the new coins about to be released into circulation is the John Tyler coin. You won't need installment loans for one – it's a dollar – but it features one of the least covered Presidents. Tyler was the President that annexed Texas and Florida, and was one of only three presidents that wasn't a member of any party during his term. You can find out more about upcoming coins from usmint.gov without needing debt relief for viewing it. They might want to buy rolls of the new Lincoln pennies using this website, which show a photo of a teenage Lincoln reading a book on the tails side. Just make sure you don’t go crazy getting installment loans to pay for pennies. The argument that they’re worthless and should not be made anymore has been simmering for a while. Since, There might come a day when pennies are obsolete.