What To Do About The Social Security Meltdown

One of the hallmarks of America is the near-universal belief that our nation is the land of opportunity. Despite the many problems in our country, we've always believed that our children would be better off than we were.

And for the better part of two centuries, that was true. But in the minds of many Americans today, that belief is dying...

You see, more than 56% of Americans believe their children will be worse off financially than they are. Now, that's an improvement from a similar survey in 2014, which found that 76% of parents feared for their children's futures. But that still means that almost 60% of parents don't think their children will achieve any lasting financial success. And that number is sure to grow as the United States edges ever closer to a financial abyss.

This begs the question: Are these parents being overly pessimistic, or do their concerns have merit?

Like many such questions, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. But being proactive against the threats to our kid's futures is a sure-fire way to secure their financial well-being.

Take Social Security for instance.

Social Security was instituted by Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 as a tool to prevent seniors from living in poverty after a lifetime of work. Today, nearly 60 million Americans receive retirement, disability, or survivors benefits from Social Security.

And at $897 billion annually, Social Security is the single largest budget item of the United States. This one program consumes about 25% of all government revenues. But those numbers will accelerate over the next decade.

You see, there were more than 76 million baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. The oldest baby boomers have already entered their retirement years while the youngest are still in their 50s.

But there're problems facing the country that no amount of spin by either political party can make positive. It showed up in the most recent trustee's report for Social Security but almost nobody noticed. Sadly, none of the major news networks even bothered to report the findings.