"Who's Ready for a $5,814 Social Security Benefit Cut?"

I remember a commentary from a pension actuary that by the 2030's/2040's, most retired folks could look forward to a "Silver Bullet" pension plan. He was talking about the fact that by that time the money would simply not be there and the silver-haired ones would end up committing suicide.

That was twenty years ago and it is starting to look like he was right on both the end result (see Canada's euthanasia policy) and the timing.

From Motley Fool via Nasdaq, September 3:

For the vast majority of current and future retirees, Social Security income is indispensable. A recent survey from national pollster Gallup found that 89% of current retirees lean on their monthly Social Security payout to some varied degree to make ends meet. Meanwhile, 84% of nonretirees anticipate relying on the program as a "major" or "minor" source of income during their golden years.

Unfortunately, America's most vital social program finds itself in a heap of trouble.

The average retired worker could lose out on over $5,800 annually in 12 years

Every year for more than eight decades, the Social Security Board of Trustees has released a lengthy annual report that examines the inner workings of America's top social program. It provides revenue collection and benefit payment data since Social Security's inception, as well as making numerous prognostications about where the program is headed over the next 10 years (short-term) and 75 years (long-term).

Since 1985, the Board of Trustees report has cautioned that the combined Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust (OASI) and Disability Insurance Trust (DI) wouldn't generate enough aggregate revenue to maintain existing payouts, including annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLA), over the long-term. This expected cash shortfall has steadily been growing, on a nominal-dollar basis, over the past three-plus decades.

If there's a silver lining to this, it's that Social Security is in no danger of going bankrupt or becoming insolvent. The lion's share of revenue collected by the Social Security program derives from the 12.4% payroll tax on earned income (wages and salary, but not investment income). As long as Americans continue to work, revenue will always be flowing into Social Security for disbursement to eligible recipients. If you qualify for a Social Security benefit, you're going to receive some form of payout....

....MUCH MORE

However....the post immediately below: 

"The Labor Shortage Will Get Worse and May Last for Decades"