In their 2015 report, the Board of Trustees of Social Security & Medicare (comprised of the U.S. Treasury Secretary, Labor Secretary and Health & Human Services Secretary) wrote:

• In the second paragraph: “Social Security as a whole as well as Medicare cannot sustain projected long-run program costs…”
• In the fourth paragraph: “The DI (Disability Insurance) program satisfies neither the Trustees’ long-range test of close actuarial balance nor our short-range test of financial adequacy and faces the most immediate financing shortfall of any of the separate trust funds.”
• In Paragraph eleven: “The Trustees project that the Medicare Hospital Insurance (HI) Trust Fund will be depleted in 2030…”
• Conclusion statement: “Taking action sooner rather than later will permit consideration of a broader range of solutions and provide more time to phase in changes so that the public has adequate time to prepare.”

The insolvency of these funds coupled with fact that too many Americans have very little if any retirement savings are going to create serious problems for retirees.  U.S. House Resolution 488 states that Social Security “was never intended by Congress to be the sole source of retirement income for families.” The Social Security Fund has $2.7 trillion in assets, but the government estimates its liabilities to exceed $40 trillion and the SS Disability Ins. Fund will be depleted in less than a month.  Congress has already diverted funds to extend that, but it’s not going to last.

Two weeks ago the Federal Reserve, FDIC and many other financial regulators in the Shared National Credit (SNC) Review expressed concerns about the “continuing gaps between industry practices and the expectations for safe and sound banking.” They highlighted the great increase in risky loans that exceed $3.9 trillion.  These concerns are further articulated in the article below titled, Astonishing Report from the Fed Says US Banks Are Not Sound.

In both these government reports they plainly admit too much debt, not enough revenue and if nothing changes, insolvency.  However, neither report offers a solution or even a direction to take.  The Social Security report says people need to be prepared.  In other words, people need to find another source of retirement income or figure out how to live without Social Security & Medicare.

A Summary of the 2015 Annual Reports by Social Security & Medicare Boards of Trustees  https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

Congress Proposes a Chilling Resolution on Social Security (11-4-15) SMC
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/congress-proposes-a-chilling-resolution-on-social-security-18193/?inf_contact_key=eaadec71153e36824fe97bcb7679e1f562775c46eda3db5510189b4d2eb50a31

The Fake Fix for Disability Insurance (11-11-15) WSJ | http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-fake-fix-for-disability-insurance-1447285970

Astonishing Report from the Fed Says US Banks Are Not Sound (11-10-15) SMC
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/astonishing-report-from-the-fed-says-us-banks-are-not-sound-18208/?inf_contact_key=9c63c82682d35503b41a66621aad350bbdcdf5228477612e7b830364e91004da

Shared National Credits Review Notes High Credit Risk & Weaknesses Related to Leveraged Lending & Oil & Gas (11/5/15) 
http://www.occ.treas.gov/topics/credit/commercial-credit/shared-national-credits-reports.html  |  Release 2015-149 | SNC Review (PDF) | SNC Program Industry Definitions (PDF)