It’d be swell if more of the mainstream media would accurately report the financial status of Social Security. Unfortunately, much of the coverage is influenced by conservative propaganda rather than actual facts. Predictably, some of the reporting on the recently released Social Security trustees report is less journalistic than alarmist and simplistic.
As Los Angeles Times columnist Michael Hiltzik observes, “The annual report of the trustees provides yearly opportunities for misunderstandings by politicians, the media, and the general public about the health of (Social Security). This year is no exception,”
A quick review of the headlines following the release of the 2025 trustees report bears this out:
Social Security is set to dry up even sooner than expected – Forbes
Social Security Is Running Out of Money – Newsweek
Social Security go-broke date pushed up – Associated Press
Social Security Could Be Bankrupt By 2033 – iHeart Radio
For the record: Social Security is not drying up, running out of money, going broke, or facing bankruptcy. What the trustees reported is that, absent any action by Congress, the reserves in Social Security’s combined trust fund will become depleted by 2034 — a year earlier than was projected in the previous report. At that point, the program still could pay 81% of benefits. No one wants to see seniors suffer a 19% benefit cut, but that outcome is far from inevitable.
Let’s be clear: the only way that Social Security itself could go ‘bankrupt’ is if we had 100% unemployment and no one was paying into the program. Barring that unlikely event, Social Security still will have plenty of money. (There currently is a $2.7 trillion surplus in the trust fund.)
The trust fund’s projected depletion date has vacillated between 2033 and 2035 for several years now. The date moving up one year in the latest report is no cause for panic; but you’d never know that from the coverage.
Not all of the news media is bungling the story. Some of the reporting actually is fair and responsible. But the inaccurate coverage feeds directly into the conservative narrative that Social Security is on a path to oblivion — and that the only way to ‘save’ it is by cutting benefits or privatizing the program.
“We have a generational opportunity and a moral obligation to address the solvency and unsustainability of these programs,” insisted Rep. Jody Arrington (R-TX), Chair of the House Budget Committee. (Note: neither the trustees nor the program’s chief actuary has said that Social Security is “unsustainable.”)
The libertarian Cato Institute’s Romina Boccia called the 2025 report “bleak,” warning that “The program is barreling toward insolvency — and fast.” (Note: the trust fund will become insolvent if no action is taken to prevent it, but the program itself will remain solvent. The trust fund and the Social Security program are not the same thing.)
The second bogus claim in the media narrative is that ‘no one in Washington is taking the projected shortfall seriously or doing anything about it.’
“Lawmakers have repeatedly kicked Social Security and Medicare’s troubling math to the next generation.” – Associated Press, 6/18/25
In fact, both parties have proposed fixes for Social Security. Republicans have put forth plans to raise the retirement age (a huge benefit cut!), means test benefits (another cut), and implement a more miserly COLA formula (yes, an additional cut!) — on top of their ongoing calls to privatize the program. These proposals ask current or future seniors to bear the costs (and the risk, in the case of privatization) of ‘saving’ Social Security.
Democrats — including Rep. John Larson (D-CT), Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) — have introduced legislation to bring more revenue into Social Security by asking the wealthy to contribute their fair share — with no benefit cuts. We fully embrace this approach.
There may be a lack of bipartisan consensus on the proper path, but to say that Congress is ‘kicking the can down the road’ is an oversimplification. These simple narratives are easier to fall back on for reporters facing deadlines, but they are grossly misleading — and can undermine public faith in Social Security. Of course, Congress should act, but there still is time before this becomes a full-blown crisis.
We’ll blog again later in the week with an analysis of a recent news story by the Associated Press, which (typically) mischaracterizes the implications of the trustees report. Stay tuned!