How Bad?

How Badly Are Our Federal Entitlements Underfunded?

This badly:

* By 2050, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid (health care for the poor) will consume nearly the entire federal budget.

* By 2082, Medicare spending alone will consume nearly the entire federal budget.

...and look at the scale on the two big ones:

* By 2020, in addition to payroll taxes and premiums, Social Security and Medicare will require more than one in four federal income tax dollars.

* By 2030, about the midpoint of the baby boomer retirement years, the programs will require nearly half of all income tax dollars.

*By 2060, they will require nearly three out of four income tax dollars.

Don't worry, though. The CBO thinks we can handle it if we roughly triple marginal tax rates -- assuming that corporations and the rich don't decide they'd prefer to live in Trinidad or something; and assuming that they continue to be able to produce new jobs and keep the economy afloat with, say, a sixth of their current profits. I'd say "the government can just provide us with jobs" except, of course, that they won't have any money left: anyone not working for the Social Security Administration, Medicare, or the IRS will pretty much be out of work, including the entire Armed Forces and Federal police agencies. Well, except the ones that go after tax cheats -- we'll have to find a way to fund them somehow.