Funding

• According to the "New York Times," Social Security will, for the first time, pay out more than it receives in payroll taxes in 2010. Though the system is currently operating with a monetary surplus of about $2.5 trillion, the CBO had predicted that by 2040 the system, left unchanged, would only be able to fund 80 percent of its projected obligations. The CBO's latest report suggests ways to strengthen the system without a complete overhaul.
  
  

Funding Solutions

• The report's suggestions for improving the solvency of the Social Security system includes pared-down payments to the top 50 percent of earners, tying the official retirement/eligibility age to Americans' longer life spans and imposing a partial payroll tax on Americans who earn more than $250,000. According to political analyst Ronald Brownstein, the gap between the system's projected earnings and obligations amounts to only 1 percent of our economy's estimated output over the next 75 years. A collective willingness by Americans to make modest sacrifices could bring long-lasting stability to our national safety net.
  
  

Politics

• The heated political rhetoric surrounding Social Security has obscured the realities of Social Security's future reliability for many Americans and could lead to drastic changes in the system, including a proposed switch to privatized retirement accounts or a hybrid of privatization and the current system. According to a USA Today/Gallup poll, a majority of retirees believe their benefits will be cut in the future, and 6 out of 10 working Americans believe there will be no Social Security benefits for them when they retire.
  
  

Disability Fraud

• An ongoing investigation by "The Oregonian" newspaper found that the Social Security Administration's failure to check on the medical conditions of 1.7 million Americans may be resulting in as much as $11 billion in payments to people who are no longer disabled. By law, reviews of the nearly 12 million cases of people on Social Security disability and Supplemental Security Insurance are to be conducted regularly. Lack of funding, however, has limited the number of case reviews.
  
  

Backlog of Claims

• According to disability lawyer Jeffrey A. Rabin, the backlog in Social Security disability cases has been steadily growing. In 2010, it takes the system an average of three months to process a disability claim. If the initial claim and reconsideration are denied, it may take one to two years before an administrative law judge can hear the appeal. The SSA attributes the wait to a 15 percent increase in disability filings between 2008 and 2009.