Social Security

NCPA - WHAT ABOUT THE UNFUNDED LIABILITIES?

This past spring, the Social Security Trustees released their annual report on the state of the Social Security and Medicare programs.  The report on the state of entitlement programs is rather grim -- the combined unfunded liabilities of both programs are a $101 trillion, says Mike Whalen, policy chairman of the National Center for Policy Analysis.

Many shrug their shoulders at a debt that seems so far into the future.  To his credit, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned shortly after the report's release that without entitlement reforms, "rising costs will drive government spending to unprecedented levels, consume nearly all projected federal revenues and threaten America's future prosperity."

However, Pete Stark, California Democrat, of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, remarked: "Reports of Medicare's death have been greatly exaggerated."