The AP has gotten the government’s annual report on the financial health of the two largest entitlement programs that finds them to be in horrible shape. The entitlement nightmare is arriving even earlier than previously forecast:

The financial health of Social Security and Medicare, the government’s two biggest benefit programs, have worsened because of the severe recession, and Medicare is now paying out more than it receives. Trustees of the programs said Tuesday that Social Security will start paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, one year sooner than projected last year, and the giant trust fund will be depleted by 2037, four years sooner.

Medicare is in even worse shape. The trustees said the program for hospital expenses will pay out more in benefits than it collects this year and will be insolvent by 2017, two years earlier than the date projected in last year’s report. The trust funds — which exist in paper form in a filing cabinet in Parkersburg, W.Va. — are bonds that are backed by the government’s “full faith and credit” but not by any actual assets. That money has been spent over the years to fund other parts of government.

Therefore, it’s time to almost double the budget, increase borrowing by $10 trillion, and vastly expand the size of government, all while decreasing the quality of services like healthcare. Did we get that straight? Is there any chance of the public waking up before it is too late?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 10:27 am and is filed under business, Democrats, General, Left of Left. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.