The crisis Biden and Trump don’t want to deal with

President Biden and former president Donald Trump don’t agree on much, but both have pledged not to touch Social Security benefits. This is a reflection of political reality, which is that a lot of seniors, who tend to vote at high rates, depend on the programs, and that they are popular generally. Social Security has a broadly progressive impact on income distribution: The bottom half of earners rely on it to stay out of poverty in retirement. Financial reality, though, is that if the programs aren’t reformed, and run out of money to pay required benefits, cuts could become unavoidable.

The latest reports from the Social Security and Medicare trustees, released on Monday, reinforce that sobering fact. Social Security will be insolvent by 2035 and Medicare’s Hospital Insurance Trust Fund by 2036. These dates are slightly farther in the future than the estimates in last year’s report. Because of a strong labor market, more workers earned more money subject to the Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes. Nevertheless, the trustees warn that postponing a crisis is a far cry from solving it.