📋 Social Security Payments Are Protected, Officials Tell AARP (AARP Article)

Completely concur. As I see it, AARP needs to be more pro-active in securing commitments for protecting SS and Medicare for senior citizens - from the executive office and Congress.  AARP represents millions of seniors - it has a significant presence and a loud voice. There is rampant fear among seniors - apparently with good cause. The recent news about teenage twinkies accessing personal data and Mr. Musk's latest interest in cleaning up SS are frightening. 

Social Security benefits of Old Age Retirement including Spousal benefits, Survivors Benefits and Social Security Disabiltiy benefits are ALL protected by law and have dedicated funding sources which pay for them.  So any change to the Social Security system has to go thru Congress.

The Social Security Administration also handles Supplemental; Security Income (SSI) which is a welfare program for the blind, the elderly and the disabled who have not been vested into the Social Security System or have a very minimal benefit.  The funding for this comes from the General Fund or taxpayers.  

Our concerns should be

1.  That Congress acts to shore up funding for the Social Security System because the Trust Fund is running out of money - D-Day about 2032-2035.

SSA.gov 2024 Social Security and Medicare Trustee Report Summary 

Our concern here is that Congress will act but they haven’t for the last 10 years and this has been forecasted every year since 2010 - There are ton of solutions that have been proposed but the only thing they have done is to increase some benefits and make the matters even worse.

2. That our government does not go broke 

pgpf.org - 01/22/2025 - Any Way You Look at It, Interest Costs on the National Debt Will Soon Be at an All-Time High 

from the link -

The most recent projections from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirm once again that America’s fiscal outlook is on an unsustainable path — increasingly driven by higher interest costs. Growing debt, in addition to the rise in interest rates over the past couple of years, has significantly increased the cost of federal borrowing. In 2024, interest costs on the national debt totaled $881 billion — surpassing most other components of the federal budget.

In 2025, the interest payment on only the debt is estimated to be $ 952 BILLION - that is almost a Trillion dollars that has to be paid just for the INTEREST ON THE DEBT.

Here again, it is Congresses roll to hold down cost and increase revenues - they have done neither.

We have a government that does not work -their solution always seems to be that somebody else should pay.  Seems to me we are ALL in this together.