Opinion: Social Security Cuts Are Inevitable

For the more than 64 million people currently receiving a Social Security benefit, as well as the tens of millions of working Americans who'll qualify for a retired worker benefit in the years and decades to come, I have some bad news -- namely, the most successful social program in history may not have enough cash in its coffers to cover your full monthly payout.

Every year, the Social Security Board of Trustees releases a short-term (10-year) and long-term (75-year) outlook for the program. Since 1985, it's been cautioning that long-term revenue collection would be insufficient to cover outlays.

Put in plainer English, for the past 35 years, the Trustees report has warned that Social Security had long-term unfunded obligations. In the 2020 report, the Trustees have forecast that Social Security will completely exhaust its $2.9 trillion in asset reserves by 2035, leaving an unfunded gap of a whopping $16.8 trillion between 2035 and 2094.