Social Security

Kudlow: ‘I Don’t Buy’ That Tax Cuts Boosted Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow is at it again. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the top economic adviser to President Trump said that, while the administration is looking to cut federal spending — including...
Social Security Pulled 27 Million People Out of Poverty in 2017

By Michael Rainey

Since 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau has produced a more sophisticated measure of poverty that, among other things, includes the income effects of government assistance programs such as Social Security...
‘Things Are So Much Worse’ – but Does Anyone Care About the Deficit?

By Yuval Rosenberg

As we told you yesterday , the Congressional Budget Office estimated this week that the deficit for the first 11 months of fiscal 2018 totaled $895 billion, or $222 billion more than it was over the...
Social Security’s Troubling Trend

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Unequal gains in life expectancy over the last half-century between Americans with greater earnings and education and those of lower socioeconomic status mean that the benefits of Social Security are...
Trump Says He Made Social Security, Medicare Stronger. Fact-Checker Says False.

By The Fiscal Times Staff

President Trump said this week that "Democrats want to destroy Medicare. If you look at what they’re doing, they’re going to destroy Medicare. And we will save it. We will keep it going. We’re making...

Happy Birthday, Social Security!

By Michael Rainey

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 83 years ago today, August 14, 1935. Here are some key facts about the program, courtesy of the Center on Budget and Policy...
The Deficit Is Up 20% This Year

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1...
Chart of the Day: Americans Using Government Programs

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families delivers cash aid to about 2.5 million people, or less than 1 percent of the U.S. population — “far smaller than the share...
A Growing Problem for Seniors: Bankruptcy

By Yuval Rosenberg

The New York Times reports on new research that suggests a growing problem for seniors: “The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and...
US Interest Costs Will Match Social Security Spending by 2048, CBO Says

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday confirmed what we already knew: The U.S. faces a rising tide of red ink, with the national debt as a share of the economy projected to nearly double over...

Should Failing Private Pension Funds Get a Federal Bailout?

By Marc Joffe

Bailing out pension funds by offering them unpayable loans simply kicks the can down the road and increases future deficits in a non-transparent manner. Worse, this approach could easily spread to...
The GOP’s Tax-Cut Two-Step

By Yuval Rosenberg

Liberal critics of the Republican tax plan have long warned that it’s just the first part of a two-step plan that, after adding $1.7 trillion to the nation’s long-term debt, would quickly lead to GOP...
Many Americans Don’t Trust Trump to Protect Social Security, Medicare

By Yuval Rosenberg

As a candidate, President Trump pledged to “save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts,” but nearly 60 percent of Americans heading into their retirement years don’t trust him to...
Why Pension Funds Have Fallen Behind, Even as Stocks Boom

By Richard Leong, Reuters

While U.S. corporate pensions regained some swagger after Wall Street’s record run this summer, they are still far from their heyday before the 2007-2009 credit crunch when they appeared to be in...
Does Trump’s Deal with Dems Signal the Beginning of the End for the GOP?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Last week’s kumbaya moment between President Trump and congressional Democratic leaders has upended political calculations on Capitol Hill and given the administration something it can tout as a win...