After decades of the Social Security system running budgetary surpluses, which were loaned to other federal government programs, this year Social Security will run a deficit. As reported by Yahoo News,"This year, for the first time since the 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security, the retirement program is projected to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes nearly $29 billion more. Sounds like a good time to start tapping the nest egg. Too bad the federal government already spent that money over the years on other programs [...]. Now the government will have to borrow even more money, much of it abroad, to start paying back the IOUs, and the timing couldn't be worse. The government is projected to post a record $1.5 trillion budget deficit this year, followed by trillion dollar deficits for years to come."

As noted in the AYA Social Security Issue Paper, "There are only three ways for the government to make up for the 'declining Social Security surpluses and emerging Social Security deficits: reduce spending, raise taxes, or borrow more.'"