The Seniors Center introduces two websites, insolvency countdown clock to warn public about Social Security's funding crisis
WASHINGTON, July 10, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, seniors advocacy nonprofit, The Seniors Center, through their grassroots campaign #KeepOurTrust, unveiled two new websites aimed at alerting the public to Social Security's imminent funding crisis.
"SocialSecurityInsolvencyClock.org and SocialSecurityDefaultClock.org were started with a simple idea in mind," said The Seniors Center President Dan Perrin. "We need to make Social Security insolvency something everyone can understand?from why it's happening to how critical its effects will be if Congress continues to ignore it."
Both sites provide basic information to the public about the Social Security Trustees' repeated projections that Social Security's payment obligations will exceed its payroll tax income and exhaust surplus funds in a matter of years, resulting in an immediate 23% benefit cut for all beneficiaries.
The focal point of each site is a ticking clock steadily counting down to the year of insolvency.
"One of our goals with the #KeepOurTrust project is to make protecting Social Security an issue that's important to all Americans?not just those of a certain age group. Looking into the future, fifteen years may seem like a long way off, but when you are talking about the financial security of millions of seniors, it's not that long at all," Perrin said.
"In fifteen years, we'll start seeing our first Gen X retirees, but right now, many of them probably don't consider Social Security their issue yet. We're hoping these simple clocks will be a call-to-action for members of the public who are unfamiliar with what's going on with Social Security to get informed and become involved in calling on Congress to act."
The most recent Social Security Trustees report estimates the Social Security Trust Fund will exhaust its surplus and enter insolvency by 2035.
In an unprecedented and highly unusual move, the Congressional Budget Office raised the prospect of the U.S. "restructuring the debt," meaning a default of current U.S. Treasury contractual obligations or "using monetary policy to raise inflation," to devalue the currency so that our debts can be "paid" with devalued currency as a result of hyper-inflation.
This is highly relevant to the future of Social Security. "The fact is there is no Trust Fund," said Perrin, "and to the extent there is anything in the Trust Fund, it is U.S. government issued IOUs. To be clear, there is debt in the Trust Fund."
"Therefore the U.S. government's credit rating and theoretical default on Trust Fund "investments" could have a direct bearing on future Social Security payments."
"It's time for Congress to stop putting Band-Aids on Social Security and passing the problem to the next generation. That's how we keep ending up back here," said Perrin.
"These websites are just one of the ways we're reaching out to members of the public to spread awareness and hopefully motivate voters to contact their Senators and Representatives to tackle Social Security insolvency permanently."
Perrin invites the public to learn more about Social Security insolvency by visiting SocialSecurityDefaultClock.org and SocialSecurityInsolvencyClock.org.
To reach out to members of Congress about Social Security insolvency by signing the #KeepOurTrust It's Time to Fix Social Security Petition, becoming a #KeepOurTrust Grassroots Leader, or emailing Senators and Representatives directly, visit KeepOurTrust.org.
The Seniors Center is a program of Our Generation, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. For more information, contact The Seniors Center at (202) 754-8542.
Contact:
Daniel Perrin
[email protected]
(202) 754-8542
SOURCE The Seniors Center
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