Good News, Bad News

So, the nation may have a little extra time to deal with the...timebomb...that is Social Security and Medicare, but once again, we Baby Boomers are inadvertently causing a problem and, once again, we'll be penalized.

Once again, something we were promised , something on which we depended, will be reduced, curtailed or withdrawn.

Yesterday delivered news that, as the Associated Press put it, "Fewer benefits, more tax money and some accounting magic have bought an extra year of life for Social Security and Medicare, trustees of the government's two largest benefit programs said Monday."

Still, the article said, the Medicare trust fund could crash by 2019 and the Social Security trust fund could run dry by 2041.

"Today's report reinforces the need for Congress to address runaway entitlement spending that will bankrupt future generations of Americans," said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.

Yep, that's you he's talking about, Mr. and Mrs Runaway Entitlement Spending. That's where we're wasting money. Not on an ill-conceived war gone bad. Not on Halliburton. Not on bridges to nowhere in Alaska or tax cuts for the super-rich. You. You and your oh-so-precious Social Security and Medicare funds, those safety nets you've been buying on the installment plan for the last 40 years or so.

Shame on you.

So, what's the plan? Should we end that expensive war? Rollback those tax cuts? Nah. Here's the preferred plan, according to the Social Security trustees' latest report:

"An immediate increase of 16 percent in payroll tax revenues or an immediate reduction in benefits of 13 percent or some combination of the two."