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Social Security Stronger Than Thought NewsMax.com WiresWASHINGTON – Social Security's long-term prospects are better than previously thought, a congressional report said Monday. It estimated the program would not become insolvent until 2052, a decade later than projected earlier this year. The report by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office still paints a bleak financial picture for the future of the retirement system, which faces significant strain as the aging baby boom generation retires. But the report's projection will jump-start debate this election year about President Bush's proposal to revamp the system by adding personal investment accounts. The bipartisan trustees who oversee Social Security predicted in March that the system's shortfall would be 1.89 percent of taxable payroll, or about $3.7 trillion. But using rosier economic assumptions over the next 75 years on such things as inflation and productivity, congressional budget forecasters said the shortfall would be 1 percent of taxable payroll. Both reports pegged 2019 as the year the system will start paying out more in benefits than it takes in payroll taxes. Analysts say that date is likely more significant because the projections of insolvency count on funds owed the system by the government in the so-called trust fund. Those funds, however, already have been spent and must be repaid.
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