News
In The Press: How to Win the War on Fraud, Trump’s $1,000 Retirement Match, and Shutdown-Proof ICE
1+ week, 3+ day ago (720+ words) Jessica Hall reports on President Trump's plan "to create retirement-savings plans for workers who don't have access to one through their employer, offering up to $1,000 a year in matching funds" for MarketWatch. Romina Boccia explains why the plan would require…...
You’re Invited to Social Security in the Red: Implications for Federal Debt
5+ day, 19+ hour ago (480+ words) Social Security is widely portrayed as a self-financed program with a long-term trust fund solvency problem. That's not the full story. Join me on May 6th at Noon, at the Cato Institute (with lunch to follow) or online, for a conversation…...
To Save Social Security, Stop Subsidizing Wealthy Retirees
3+ week, 4+ day ago (567+ words) This article first appeared at The Daily Economy, an imprint of the American Institute for Economic Research, on February 11, 2026. Read it here. Social Security is drifting toward a cliff, and Congress keeps pretending the shortfall will fix itself. It won't....
Should Social Security Be Means-Tested? Lessons from Australia and New Zealand
1+ week, 19+ hour ago (644+ words) This is a guest post by Michael Littlewood. Taxpayers shouldn't pay a pension to someone who doesn't need it. Said quickly, that sounds sensible. Why collect tax from producers and employees and deliver a pension to someone who, on any…...
Debt Digest | Medicare’s Fiscal Crisis is Getting Worse
1+ week, 1+ day ago (845+ words) Debt Digest | Medicare's Fiscal Crisis is Getting Worse'The Debt Dispatch Debt Digest | Medicare's Fiscal Crisis is Getting Worse Links & Fiscal Facts Here are this week's reading links and fiscal facts: CBO's new projections confirm Medicare's fiscal crisis is getting worse....
Debt Digest | Medicare Advantage Stocks Tumble as Trump Administration Targets Overpayments
1+ mon, 1+ week ago (874+ words) Debt Digest | Medicare Advantage Stocks Tumble as Trump Administration Targets Overpayments'The Debt Dispatch Debt Digest | Medicare Advantage Stocks Tumble as Trump Administration Targets Overpayments Links & Fiscal Facts Here are this week's reading links and fiscal facts: Medicare Advantage stocks tumble…...
Littlewood: Retirement Promises are Claims on the Future
2+ mon, 1+ week ago (785+ words) I do not present this essay because I endorse every conclusion. I publish it because it focuses the debate on fundamentals'economic substance over accounting form, incentives over rhetoric, and tradeoffs over illusions'at a moment when calls to "fix" Social Security…...
How Fiscal and Economic Crises Prompted Retirement Reforms Abroad—and What They Reveal for US Social Security
2+ mon, 2+ week ago (775+ words) The lessons from these international reforms are especially relevant for the United States, as Social Security's finances deteriorate and the costs of delay continue to mount. Delaying reform until the 2032 deadline would make it more likely that lawmakers rely on…...
Young Workers Could Lose $110,000 in Lifetime Earnings to Keep Social Security Solvent
7+ mon, 2+ week ago (583+ words) Social Security's necessary 75-year payroll tax increase would cut lifetime earnings for a new median worker by over $110,000equivalent to nearly two years of lost pay. But even this tax hike would fall short of a lasting solution. While it might…...