Magazine content is available exclusively for TIME subscribers.SOCIAL SECURITY: No Bankruptcy
Nearly four decades of half-truths have finally caught up with Social Security. The system is as sound today as it has ever been, but Social Security Administration officials are trying to convince a suddenly skeptical public that the program is not on the edge of bankruptcy. They are having a hard time because for so many years boosters pretended that Social Security is an insurance plan.
The immediate source of concern is the Social Security trust fund, which in the popular mind has become analogous to the reserves insurance companies set aside...
To read the entire article, you must be a TIME subscriber. Already registered? Sign in below
Current print subscribers to register
Subscribe now to get TIME All Access
Email, Password or Region is incorrect
A required form parameter was missing.
The System is currently down. Please try again in a few minutes.
Email Address is invalid
Password is blank
Most Popular »
- E.T. Turns 30: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Our Favorite Extraterrestrial
- How Cash Keeps Poor People Poor
- 15-Year-Old Creates Test for Pancreatic Cancer
- Nevada Ghosts: Rare Photos From an A-Bomb Test
- 10 Dangerous Products You Might Have in Your Home
- Obama Stumbles? Why the President's Right to Talk About Bain
- Could a Fertility Gene Discovery Lead to New Male Contraception?
- Euro Crisis: Why A Greek Exit Could Be Much Worse Than Expected
- Fourth Flesh-Eating-Bacteria Case Confirmed in Georgia, Possible Fifth
- Star Wars Turns 35: How TIME Covered the Film Phenomenon
- Researchers Probe the Potential Health Benefits of Palm Oil
- A Visit with Turkey's Controversial Religious Movement
- Feeding the Planet Without Destroying It
- Bubble on the Potomac
- Falcon's Liftoff: How a Private Firm Could Change Space Exploration
- The Fatal Flight of the Superjet 100: Why Did It Slam Into a Mountain?
- Learning That Works
- The Man Who Remade Motherhood
- Bibi's Choice
- Seoul: 10 Things to Do
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
