Social Security's retirement trust fund may run out in 2032. Senators elected this November will still be in office. That is the whole story. Six years is a long time to prepare for something that takes a calculator and a spine.
Consider the timeline. A candidate wins in November. Gets sworn in. Finds the office with the good coffee. Then spends six years deciding which committee should hold a hearing about a date everyone already knows.
The date is not a surprise. The trustees have been publishing it for years. It is the only deadline in Washington that sends reminders.
Voters will be asked to choose between candidates who both promise to protect Social Security. Neither will explain the math. The math is boring and has no yard signs.
Retail traders, meanwhile, are checking whether this is bullish. It is not a stock. You cannot buy calls on your own grandmother's checks. Though I assume someone in a Discord is trying.
The retail plan, as I understand it, is to turn a few thousand dollars into a retirement by 2032. Good luck. You lost money on a company whose product is a sandwich.
If the fund runs dry, benefits do not vanish. Cuts would apply to what the incoming payroll taxes can cover. That is the comforting version. Nobody has ever been comforted by it.
So the Senate races matter. Pick your candidate carefully. Study their plan for the trust fund.
Or do what you always do and vote based on a mailer with a dog on it.
Photo by hayleigh b on Unsplash
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