Social Security’s trustees say the system needs only “modest changes.” In fact, the system is desperately broke.
The proof is buried deep in the trustees’ own 2012 report in a complex table, numbered IV.B6. Table IV.B6 is a long-run balance sheet for Social Security. It shows that the system’s $88.9 trillion in liabilities exceed its $68.4 trillion in assets by $20.5 trillion.
The $20.5 trillion fiscal gap separating Social Security’s liabilities and assets — its unfunded liability — is enormous; it is 1.4 times US gross domestic product and 34 times annual Social Security taxes
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