If the anticipated revenue would recoup the loss next year,it wouldn't represent a failure. As there is no anticipated increase in revenue that will cause this to happen, yes, it represents a failure.Evidently one year of budget shortfalls for the SS fund represents failure to Trap. Perhaps the SS fund could just demand payment on the bonds issued to it from the government? All that needs to be done to fix SS is to raise the cap and force the government to start paying off the IOUs. As for economic forecasts about what the world will be like in 25 years...is this a George Carlin bit? An economist accurately predicting the economy 20, 30 or 45 years in advance? That must be some killer weed...
Further, for the past 60 years we've been using Social Security to defray the expenses of our operations, borrowing from the revenue SS generates in order to pay for general-fund expenses, which we needed to do because those expenses exceeded our revenues from other sources. Now, this year and for the foreseeable future, revenues from all sources, including Social Security, are less than the payouts to all sources, including Social Security. How, then, can we redeem the Social Security trust fund? By borrowing more money, of course, which will itself have to be repaid out of future revenues -- and those future revenues already are not expected to be able to meet the expenses we already have, without borrowing additional money.
This would be a laughable statement if the situation were not so dire. Raising the cap isn't going to happen -- it's a political impossibility. What WILL happen is that the requirements to meet benefits will change: The Social Security retirement qualification age will move again, proving to young people that they will never see a social security check, but because the age of benefits is a moving target.All that needs to be done to fix SS is to raise the cap and force the government to start paying off the IOUs
Read "The Rise and Fall of Great Powers" by Paul Kennedy, who accurately predicted the breakup of the Soviet Union, based on data acquired over the preceding 20 years (the book was published in 1987).An economist accurately predicting the economy 20, 30 or 45 years in advance?