Most federal reports are unfortunately greeted with a yawn. But the report from the trustees who oversee Social Security deserved more attention than it received. 

Once again, we were told that the program will become insolvent by 2032. At that point, they argue that benefits will be cut. Both statements are wrong. The program will default earlier, and Congress will keep printing dollars rather than deal with this governmental Ponzi scheme.

Don’t take my word for this. Listen to Porter Stansberry, who is best known for his market analysis in his Stansberry Research newsletter. His new book has the ominous title, 2029, The End of America. He runs the numbers on the government’s current indebtedness and predicts that the U.S. is headed for a monetary reset by 2029. This financial disaster will be driven by our national debt and our unfunded entitlements like Social Security and Medicare.

When he looks at other countries that have gone bankrupt, he warns that they often do very bad things to their creditors. In the U.S., the creditors are the retirees. This could be devastating for older Americans since more than half (53%) say Social Security is their primary source of income and many more (14%) say it provides 90 percent of their income. In case you are wondering, more money is already going out to beneficiaries than is coming in from taxpayers.

Solutions may sound easy but are politically impossible. We can raise taxes, which few members of Congress would approve. Or we can cut benefits, but most retirees need every dollar. Perhaps you can now understand why no candidate wants to talk about this before the election, and elected officials ignore it when they get into office.