In their latest Social Security trustees report, which was released Monday, Treasury Department officials and economists said far fewer workers applied for disability benefits in 2018 than they expected, which lowered overall costs. But there’s another reason the government didn’t dip into its reserves, and it’s a bit disturbing: Life expectancy in the US is decreasing. Americans are dying sooner than they once did, which means the government pays out less in benefits.
The solutions to this problem aren’t mysterious, but they are political. For example, the latest economic estimates show that immigration would help save the Social Security system. Not just legal immigration — illegal immigration, too. ... Based on estimates in the trustees report, the more immigrants that come in, the longer the Social Security system will stay solvent. ... And undocumented immigrants pay for Social Security, but they’re not allowed to get benefits.
Obviously this has no chance of happening soon given the current nativist administration but regime change might make it possible. The article suggests that changes would also need to be made to Social Security’s loophole for those with $128,400+ incomes. But the article fails to consider how automation and artificial intelligence might lead to massive job losses that would affect citizens as well as non-citizens.
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