Social Security trust fund

Here's a measure of both how important Social Security is and the problems it faces: the program will actually run a deficit over the next two years because fewer people are paying in and more are applying for benefits.

Fortune magazine's cover story on Social Security is today's must-read budget article, and while you can quarrel with their stance that the program will need a "bailout," the story makes a vital point, which is that Social Security's troubles are much closer than most people think

More bad news has emerged from last week's Congressional Budget Office report: the surplus in the Social Security trust fund is now expected to dramatically dwindle next year -- about seven years faster than in the CBO's projections issu