Will Baby Boomers Destroy Social Security? Here’s the Truth

If you’re someone who reads the news, you may have come across stories about Social Security’s impending demise. And you should know that anything you read about Social Security going broke completely just isn’t true.

Social Security can’t go broke because it gets funded by payroll taxes. So as long as there’s an active labor force, the program can continue to operate.

But Social Security is facing a major financial shortfall in the coming years. And many people think baby boomers are responsible for it.

But should boomers really be blamed for destroying Social Security? Not at all.

Boomers aren’t out to get Social Security

The reason baby boomers are being accused of dealing Social Security a major financial blow is that in the coming years, they’ll be retiring in large numbers due to getting older. And naturally, once boomers retire, they’ll be claiming Social Security because they’re entitled to those benefits.

The problem is that because of the size of the baby boom generation, once they exit the labor force and start claiming Social Security, there won’t be enough workers coming into the labor force to replace them. This means that the program will be short on revenue needed to keep up with its financial obligations.

For this reason, Social Security is expected to have to tap its trust funds for money in the coming years. And once those trust funds run out of money, Social Security may have to broadly cut benefits.

It’s possible to point a finger at baby boomers for all of this. But the reality is that they didn’t cause this mess. Social Security has a team of financial experts who are tasked with making revenue projections, and this a scenario that anyone in the know has seen coming.

In fact, Social Security’s Trustees have been warning lawmakers about the program’s upcoming financial shortfall for years in an annual report summarizing the program’s finances. In their 2024 report, the Trustees said that the program’s trust funds would likely be out of money by 2035. They also explained that Social Security would have to cut benefits by about 20% at that point if another solution to generate more revenue wasn’t reached.

But so far, lawmakers haven’t done anything to address that shortfall. And that’s something that can hardly be blamed on baby boomers. All they’re doing is living their lives, working their jobs, and retiring at a point in time when they’re more than entitled.

Can lawmakers prevent Social Security cuts?

Lawmakers do have the power to prevent broad cuts to Social Security. That doesn’t mean it’s going to be an easy job. But there are different steps they can take to improve the program’s finances.

The problem is that the clock is now ticking down. Social Security only has about another decade before its trust funds are set to run dry. Yet lawmakers somehow don’t seem to be prioritizing changes that boost the program’s revenue.

While it can be argued that lawmakers still have a little time to act, we don’t know what the next Social Security Trustees report will tell us. If it points to the program’s trust funds running out of money sooner, that may light more of a fire under lawmakers. But it also creates a more dire situation on a whole.

Solutions lawmakers come up with to prevent Social Security cuts will likely need to be phased in over time. That means they need to act now.

Baby boomers aren’t going to work till their 80s and avoid claiming Social Security just because the program is in financial trouble, and no one should expect them to. So instead of blaming boomers for Social Security’s financial woes, it’s time to put more pressure on lawmakers to make saving Social Security a priority.