So lately what you're seeing among conservatives is a push to increase the retirement age because allegedly, social security is running out of money.
That is true, but not exactly.
What is happening is that as more Boomers enter retirement, the funds are depleting faster because there hasn't been a large enough workforce behind that generation to contribute enough money to social security to pay out all the money that will be paid out to the Boomers. But that doesn't mean Social Security is going bankrupt -- only that it's possible that payments will have to be capped for a short while until the money catches up.
Conservatives want to increase the retirement age to have more money to pay for this. But this is wildly unpopular.
There are various alternatives, raising the social security tax cap (currently around $170,000), taxing high investment income, and others...
This video explains the issue fairly simply and well.
That is true, but not exactly.
What is happening is that as more Boomers enter retirement, the funds are depleting faster because there hasn't been a large enough workforce behind that generation to contribute enough money to social security to pay out all the money that will be paid out to the Boomers. But that doesn't mean Social Security is going bankrupt -- only that it's possible that payments will have to be capped for a short while until the money catches up.
Conservatives want to increase the retirement age to have more money to pay for this. But this is wildly unpopular.
There are various alternatives, raising the social security tax cap (currently around $170,000), taxing high investment income, and others...
This video explains the issue fairly simply and well.