The big news for long-term Federal fiscal policy this week came with Monday’s release of the Trustees Report on the Social Security Trust Fund.  Based on the media coverage in the days since the report’s release, you could be forgiven for believing that Social Security—the primary income support program for the nation’s elderly—faces a profound fiscal crisis, with the program’s Trust Fund approaching insolvency sooner than expected and the irreversible loss of benefits for future retirees.

Fortunately, the truth about the program’s future is significantly less dire than reported—as long as officials in the White House and Congress make the necessary policy changes to address the challenges that actually face the program.  In short, Social Security is not “going broke” now, and can avoid going broke far into the future in one simple step that doesn’t involve cuts to beneficiaries—increase program revenues through lifting the cap on the amount of income subject to the Social Security payroll tax from $100,100 to include all wage income earned by the worker.

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