Social Security

Kudlow: ‘I Don’t Buy’ That Tax Cuts Boosted Deficit

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow is at it again. Speaking at the Economic Club of New York, the top economic adviser to President Trump said that, while the administration is looking to cut federal spending — including...
Social Security Pulled 27 Million People Out of Poverty in 2017

By Michael Rainey

Since 2011, the U.S. Census Bureau has produced a more sophisticated measure of poverty that, among other things, includes the income effects of government assistance programs such as Social Security...
‘Things Are So Much Worse’ – but Does Anyone Care About the Deficit?

By Yuval Rosenberg

As we told you yesterday , the Congressional Budget Office estimated this week that the deficit for the first 11 months of fiscal 2018 totaled $895 billion, or $222 billion more than it was over the...
Social Security’s Troubling Trend

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Unequal gains in life expectancy over the last half-century between Americans with greater earnings and education and those of lower socioeconomic status mean that the benefits of Social Security are...
Trump Says He Made Social Security, Medicare Stronger. Fact-Checker Says False.

By The Fiscal Times Staff

President Trump said this week that "Democrats want to destroy Medicare. If you look at what they’re doing, they’re going to destroy Medicare. And we will save it. We will keep it going. We’re making...

Happy Birthday, Social Security!

By Michael Rainey

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law 83 years ago today, August 14, 1935. Here are some key facts about the program, courtesy of the Center on Budget and Policy...
The Deficit Is Up 20% This Year

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The federal deficit was 20 percent larger in the first 10 months of fiscal year 2018 than it was during the same time last year, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday. Revenues rose 1...
Chart of the Day: Americans Using Government Programs

By Yuval Rosenberg

The federal welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families delivers cash aid to about 2.5 million people, or less than 1 percent of the U.S. population — “far smaller than the share...
A Growing Problem for Seniors: Bankruptcy

By Yuval Rosenberg

The New York Times reports on new research that suggests a growing problem for seniors: “The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and...
US Interest Costs Will Match Social Security Spending by 2048, CBO Says

By Yuval Rosenberg

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday confirmed what we already knew: The U.S. faces a rising tide of red ink, with the national debt as a share of the economy projected to nearly double over...

Trump’s Top Priority for 2018: Infrastructure or Welfare Reform?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Trump’s Top Priority for 2018: Infrastructure or Welfare Reform? The White House has yet to finalize its top priorities for 2018, according to reports, but the administration would like to pursue...
McConnell Says Welfare and Entitlement Reform Not on Senate’s 2018 Agenda

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump and House Speaker Paul Ryan have said that welfare reform is on their to-do list for 2018. Mitch McConnell apparently has a different plan. The Senate Majority Leader on Thursday told...
The Problem with Trump’s New 401(k) Pitch

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump and the White House have embraced the rising stock market as a gauge of their economic impact. Bloomberg News reports that the president has been testing a new campaign pitch, asking...
Social Security Changes May Be on Trump’s Agenda … for His Second Term

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump once told a Republican member of Congress that he would not touch Social Security “until the first day of his second term,” the unnamed lawmaker told Business Insider. More on...
Why the GOP’s Debt-Financed Tax Cuts Could Come Back to Haunt Them

By Yuval Rosenberg

Republicans keep saying that their tax cut plan will pay for itself, despite a profound lack of evidence to support that argument. Even the most optimistic study, from the conservative-leaning Tax...