Thanks to this innovation, over the years the social-security deficit was first checked and then turned into surplus in the three years from 1999.
We already are at the tipping point: In 2010, Social Security ran a deficit for the first time since the system was overhauled in the 1980s.
Social Security is already in deficit this year, for the first time since President Reagan saved the program from bankruptcy 30 years ago.
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The Kerry camp insisted the senator from Massachusetts has a detailed plan to save Social Security by reducing the deficit and instituting fiscal discipline.
Social security is not in deficit spending at this time, but will require other tax sources by 2015 or it will be paying out more in benefits than it receives in the payroll taxes that fund the program.
Most recently, the White House, congressional Republicans and many in the media have been pummeling Democrats for their lack of a plan or even ideas on Social Security, the budget deficit, problems in schools and challenges in foreign policy.
Last year, for the first time since President Reagan saved the program in 1983, Social Security began running a cash deficit.
Last year, for the first time since President Ronald Reagan saved the program in 1983, Social Security began running a cash deficit.
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Bush warned that because the war on terrorism and homeland security would cause a budget deficit, Congress would have to "act in a fiscally responsible way" to ensure the deficit would be small and temporary.
Obama and Democrats say they want to protect Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, and that comprehensive deficit reduction must include increased taxes on wealthy Americans to prevent the burden of austerity steps from shifting too much to the middle class, the elderly and other vulnerable demographics.
Obama then added the nonsensical assertion made by Romney earlier about the deficit being a national security issue.
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Congress spent these surpluses, and the U.S. Treasury issued the Social Security Trust Fund special bonds, which can be redeemed whenever the Social Security system has a current account deficit.
Early reports from the deficit commission are touching the third-rail of politics (Social Security) and that may heighten the tax, spending and deficit cutting debate, leading to further gridlock in the upcoming lame-duck session.
Put simply, these initiatives will treat national and homeland security as a bill-payer for deficit reduction.
Does that say to the White House that Social Security as part of a debt-deficit plan may be a nonstarter in the Senate?
Obama also acknowledged that while Social Security is not the cause of the deficit, it needed long term reforms that would have to be tackled separately.
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In 2010, the Social Security system ran its first current account deficit since 1983, and for the first time since the reforms the deficit was covered by redeeming Trust Fund bonds.
We talked with Mark Miller, a journalist who specializes in retirement and aging, and he shared with us what he sees as the biggest immediate threat of all the proposed deficit reduction changes in Social Security.
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Imagine if he went to the floor (in Jimmy Stewart or Spencer Tracy fashion) to offer a powerfully symbolic piece of legislation -- for example, a balanced budget amendment to highlight the deficit issue or sweeping homeland security and veterans benefit legislation.
The truth is Social Security is not the huge contributor to the deficit that the other two entitlements are.
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The future of the nuclear modernization agenda will likely be further placed in jeopardy by ongoing efforts to reduce the federal deficit at the expense of national security programs.
Yet Washington deficit hawks are fond of bashing Social Security as a major source of our budgetary woes.
Both of you have indicated you will likely raise the age of eligibility for Social Security benefits as a way of addressing a potential deficit in the system.
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All his most cherished plans reform of road-building, post-office privatisation, deregulation of services, a rethink of Japan's outdated security policy, attempts to tackle the huge budget deficit have been eviscerated by his own side.
There are competing plans to fix Social Security, Medicare as well as the national debt and deficit.
If inflation were higher, Social Security and entitlement payments would be higher and the budget deficit mess would be even worse.
Both step gingerly around changes to the enormously popular Social Security program, which will eventually start to run a deficit as more baby boomers retire.
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The White House has made clear it will accept the Social Security and Medicare cuts only as part of a big deficit reduction deal that also includes new tax revenues.
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In America the new deficit-focused climate is preventing politicians from passing a temporary (and sensible) fiscal stimulus package without inducing them to tackle the sources of the country's huge medium-term deficit by, for instance, reforming social security.
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