Recession Puts a Major Strain On Social Security Trust Fund - washingtonpost.com

Recession Puts a Major Strain On Social Security Trust Fund - washingtonpost.com: "By Lori Montgomery
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 31, 2009; Page A04
The U.S. recession is wreaking havoc on yet another front: the Social Security trust fund.
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Recession Puts a Major Strain On Social Security Trust Fund
Trust Fund Projections
With unemployment rising, the payroll tax revenue that finances Social Security benefits for nearly 51 million retirees and other recipients is falling, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. As a result, the trust fund's annual surplus is forecast to all but vanish next year -- nearly a decade ahead of schedule -- and deprive the government of billions of dollars it had been counting on to help balance the nation's books.
While the new numbers will not affect payments to current Social Security recipients, experts say, the disappearing surplus could have considerable implications for the government's already grim financial situation"