By last year, the OASI fund was perilously close to running out of money.

CNN: A Debt-Threatened Dream

Out of every dollar that postwar Americans contribute to the OASI system, 74 cents represent a pure tax.

FORBES: Replacing FDR's New Deal With The GOP's Version Of The Great Society

Baby boomers will, under current law, lose roughly 5 cents of every dollar they earn to the OASI program in taxes net of benefits.

FORBES: Replacing FDR's New Deal With The GOP's Version Of The Great Society

Extending the permission for OASI to borrow from the disability and Medicare funds would buy a bit of additional time, but probably no more than 18 months.

CNN: A Debt-Threatened Dream

Just before midnight on May 26th, a herd of nearly 200 cows started out along an old track to Alpine pastures at 1, 300 metres within the Oasi in the Upper Sessera Valley.

ECONOMIST: Natural style

In 1993 they established the Oasi Zegna, a 100-square-kilometre (40-square-mile) reserve of meadows and forest that pushes towards Monte Rosa, Europe's second highest peak, into an empty, wild area crossed by a few trails.

ECONOMIST: Natural style

In 1975 -- by no coincidence the first year that benefits were indexed to inflation -- Social Security's pension fund, whose formal title is Old-Age and Survivors Insurace (OASI), paid out more than it took in.

CNN: A Debt-Threatened Dream