Social Security

Why Uncle Sam Seized $713 Million From Social Security Checks Last Year

By Kelli B. Grant, CNBC

If you're counting on Social Security benefits, you better make sure you don't owe Uncle Sam. Under certain circumstances, the government can seize part of your Social Security check to satisfy...
Oregon Just Took the Lead in Getting Americans to Save More for Retirement

By Eric Pianin

Bucking resistance from a Republican Congress and the Trump Administration, Oregon has become the first state to launch a program requiring private employers to either offer their own 401 (k) savings...
Trump’s 2018 Budget: F in Math, A in Provocation

By Edward Morrissey

Donald Trump campaigned on a promise to enact economic policies that would produce annual growth in gross domestic product (GDP) consistently higher than 3 percent. The US economy has not seen that...
The Heartless Tradeoffs in the Trump Budget

By Mark Thoma

As the bombshells continue to drop on the Trump administration, behind the scenes Trump’s first detailed budget proposal is being developed, and it has a few bombshells of its own, particularly for...
How Millions of Aging Baby Boomers Could Bust the Economy

By Eric Pianin

A new report not only highlights growing economic anxiety among an increasingly important and influential cohort of the population, but also suggests that this overarching pessimism and caution could...

How the Government Is Making It Harder for You to Retire

By Eric Pianin

Many Americans have saved shockingly little for their retirements, with one study showing that the median savings for households near retirement age is just $17,000. In the coming years, tens of...
10,000 Boomers Turn 65 Every Day. Can Medicare and Social Security Handle It?

By Eric Pianin

By the time the last of this generation approaches retirement age in 2029, 18 percent of the U.S. will be at least that age, the Pew Research Center projects. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid...
The Growing Funding Gap for State Pensions Puts Millions at Risk

By Eric Pianin

Two new reports by the Pew Charitable Trusts suggest that state governments across the country are shortchanging their employee pension funds and aren’t adding enough money in emergency funding...
Here’s How Two Lawmakers Plan to Secure Social Security’s Troubled Future

By Eric Pianin

If nothing changes, by the time today’s 50-year old reaches retirement age, Social Security will be paying 21 percent less in benefits than it is today.
Trump Keeps Promise Not to Touch Social Security Reform – Or Did He?

By Edward Morrissey

Give Donald Trump credit for making his political career unique in many ways, to be sure. But one difference, in particular, has become a theme in his presidency: Trump keeps his promises. For the...

Gov Overpays $1.3 B in Disability Benefits to 36,000

By Brianna Ehley, The Fiscal Times

As Congress continues to battle over the budget and tries to rein in the mounting national debt, the federal government wastes billions by mismanagement, fraud, abuse and lack of oversight. In the...
10 Real and Bogus Reasons for the Slow Recovery

By Mark Thoma

Why has the recovery from the recession been so slow? Part of the answer is that recessions caused by a collapse of the financial sector are among the hardest to recover from. But that is not the...
Conservatives Press for Hard Line on the Budget

By Eric Pianin

As the Obama administration and Congress head into their annual budget battle this fall, conservatives have begun marshaling their arguments in favor of a GOP hard line on spending and entitlement...
The Choice Congress Won’t Face Up To

By Scott Lilly, The Fiscal Times

Back in college, I had a text book entitled “Decision by Debate.” The underlying premise of the book was that if you had a good debate you were likely to end up with a good decision. It strikes me...
Why Obama Can Never Really Fix the Deficit

By Josh Boak, The Fiscal Times

President Obama and House Republicans are gearing up for a budget fight, but don’t expect any kind of a fix that stops their haggling over the deficit from being repeated again and again and again.

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