The American Spectator

The Spectacle Blog

The Social Security Board of Trustees releasted its latest report on the health of the Social Security system, and has projected that the cost of benefits will exceed payroll tax revenues in 2016 -- a year sooner than last year's report.

If that isn't depressing enough, "Medicare's financial status is much worse," the Trustees conclude. "As was true in 2008, Medicare's Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund is expected to pay out more in hospital benefits and other expenditures this year than it receives in taxes and other dedicated revenues. The difference will be made up by redeeming trust fund assets. Growing annual deficits are projected to exhaust HI reserves in 2017..."

This is the financial time bomb on top of which Obama has signed or proposed trillions in new spending, including pushing for national health care, the cost of which is likely to be around $1.5 trillion over the next ten years.