"These dark comments don't surprise me, considering I'm also a member of the generation that adopted "Oh well, whatever, never mind" as a rallying cry. I was born at the tail-end of Gen X, but I was card-carrying a latchkey kid who didn't trust authority, consistently prepared myself for disappointment, and wore a mask of ironic detachment that has served me well throughout my life."
"Every few months, a new article will raise the alarm about the imminent depletion of the Social Security trust fund. According to current projections, the trust fund will be completely wiped out sometime around the year 2033. Such articles are 100% factually correct-and completely beside the point. Because the trust fund isn't really a trust fund and it doesn't really matter if it's empty. Here's why:"
Social Security operates as a pay-as-you-go program that transfers payroll taxes from current workers to current beneficiaries. When receipts exceeded benefits in earlier decades, law required surpluses to be credited to special-issue Treasury securities, creating an accounting "trust fund." Projections that the trust fund will be exhausted around 2033 reflect those accounting entries rather than an absence of legal authority to pay benefits. Benefit payments continue to depend on current payroll-tax receipts and legislative choices. Recognizing the program's actual financing mechanism clarifies what policy actions would be necessary to sustain retirement benefits.
Read at Fast Company
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