The viability of Social Security as a source of retirement income is fading fast. As the U.S. government drowns in debt, it is using every possible source of capital to try to maintain the illusion of stability.
You must save and invest wisely to fund your retirement. It’s hard to see how Social Security can meet its obligations when the baby boomers need it.
John Mauldin and Chris Martenson document the disturbing trend below.
Link: John Mauldin, Investor’s Insight
Everyone knows that the government spends the Social Security surpluses on current needs, “borrowing” the money and putting it into a “Social Security Trust Fund,” which is basically just US debt we owe to the trust fund. In other words, there is no trust fund with anything other than paper debt. It is accounting legerdemain.
Everyone assumed that the real problem would come sometime later next decade, when there would no longer be surpluses. In 2008, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected there would be $703 billion in surpluses from 2009-18. Recently, the CBO has revised those estimates downward. It now projects surpluses to be only $83 billion. Here is a table that was sent to me from a blog by Chris Martensen. (http://www.chrismartenson.com) [click to continue…]
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