Social Security

Number of the Day: $23 a Month

By Michael Rainey

The Social Security Administration on Thursday said the cost-of-living adjustment for 2020 would be 1.6%. That translates to a bump of about $23 on the average monthly benefit of $1,460. The 2020...
The Case for Giving Social Security to Children

By Michael Rainey

US social welfare programs reduced poverty by about two-thirds overall in 2018, according to an analysis of Census data by Matt Bruenig of the left-leaning People’s Policy Project. Bruenig offers a...
Elizabeth Warren Has a Plan to Expand Social Security

By Michael Rainey and Yuval Rosenberg

Elizabeth Warren released a plan Thursday to expand Social Security and raise benefit payments. Warren’s plan would: Immediately increase benefit payments by $200 a month. If enacted, Warren’s plan...
More Progress in Tackling Poverty, but Meager Gains for the Middle Class

By Yuval Rosenberg

The poverty rate fell for the fourth straight year in 2018, dropping to 11.8%, the lowest level since 2001, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday. In all, some 38 million people were living in poverty...
Op-Ed of the Day: Fighting the Next Recession Now

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Jason Furman, the former chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers under President Obama, has some advice for Congress: Start preparing for the next recession now. In a Wall Street...

Americans Are Missing Out on Trillions in Social Security

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Americans will lose out on $3.4 trillion in benefits by claiming Social Security too early, according to a new report from United Income, an investment management and financial planning company...
Growth of US Debt Slows, but Record Levels Still Ahead

By Michael Rainey

The national debt will reach “unprecedented levels” over the next 30 years, according to the new long-term budget outlook released Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office. Federal outlays will...
7 Ways to Fix America’s Fiscal Mess

By Yuval Rosenberg

Tackling the $22 trillion national debt can be done in very different ways. Underscoring that point, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization focused on increasing...
Social Security Error Jeopardizes Medicare Coverage For 250,000 Seniors

By Susan Jaffe, Kaiser Health News

At least a quarter of a million Medicare beneficiaries may receive bills for as many as five months of premiums they thought they already paid. But they shouldn’t toss the letter in the garbage. It’s...
What Do Maine and Florida Have in Common? Lots of Social Security Recipients

By Michael Rainey

More than 17% of Maine residents received Social Security retiree benefits in 2018, Bloomberg’s Marie Patino reports , the highest proportion in the country. Other states with a high percentage of...

Dem Economists Push Back Against Debt Worries

By Michael Rainey

Just how worried should we be about the rapidly rising national debt? Last week we told you about a budget watchdog group’s effort to raise the alarm over “debt denialism” that has taken hold in some...
3 New Plans to Fix Social Security

By Michael Rainey

According to the annual trustees’ report released Monday , the combined trust funds for Social Security, currently valued at $2.9 trillion, will be exhausted by 2035 (see the chart from CQ Roll Call...
Social Security's Costs Will Exceed Its Income Starting Next Year, Trustees Say

By Yuval Rosenberg

Without congressional action, Social Security’s costs will exceed its income starting in 2020 — and they’ll stay that way indefinitely, forcing the program to fall back on its nearly $3 trillion...
Sen. Mike Enzi: Senate Budget Is a First Step to Strengthen America’s Future

By Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY)

This week the Senate Budget Committee will consider a budget plan that will reduce deficits by half a trillion dollars over the next five years. The budget does not presume to solve all of our fiscal...
The US in Decline: What Americans Fear for the Future

By Yuval Rosenberg

A Pew Research Center report published Thursday shows how staggeringly pessimistic Americans are about where the country is heading. “When Americans peer 30 years into the future, they see a country...