A mother of twins born 18 months after the death of the biological father lost her Supreme Court appeal Monday, and the children are not eligible for survival benefits under Social Security.
Highlighting the fiscal problems posed by growing health costs and an aging population, the trustees of the nation's main entitlement programs estimated Monday that Medicare will only be able to pay a portion of its expected costs starting in 2024.
Critical to reining in the United States' long-term debt will be finding ways to control the burgeoning costs of Medicare and Social Security, both of which will face serious funding shortfalls over the next two decades.
Joy Lieberman is concerned over troubles getting a photo ID to vote.
In December, the U.S. Department of Justice intervened under the Voting Rights Act to stay a South Carolina voter ID law.
Shocking as it may sound, the seemingly endless federal bureaucracy can get confusing, especially when interpreting statutory procedure. When that happens, federal courts -- including the Supreme Court -- by precedent normally give the government the benefit of the doubt, what is called "administrative deference."
Are undocumented Mexicans "financial refugees" or "financial fountains"? Columnist Charles Garcia discusses the topic.
One day, California wakes up and every single Latino has inexplicably disappeared. No business owner, doctor, nurse, soldier, teacher, entertainer, athlete or politician can be found. No bus driver, farm worker, cook, gardener or nanny. All gone. California -- the ninth largest economy in the world -- grinds to a halt because Latinos have vanished. Chaos and tragedy follow. This scenario is what Sergio Arau's satiric film, "A Day Without a Mexican," explores.
Rick Santorum pointed out the growth of government benefits compared to defense spending during Wednesday night's Republican candidates debate in Mesa, Arizona, hosted by CNN and the Republican Party of Arizona.
This week, Americans were confronted -- yet again -- with more of the same refusal by President Barack Obama to take on the greatest long-term threat to our economic and health care security. Consistent with his track record, the president's annual budget proposal offers no credible reforms for our entitlement programs that will ensure their solvency in the years to come. Instead, his budget reflects the same disregard he demonstrated last month, in his 7,000-word State of the Union address, in which only 40 words were used to talk about Social Security and Medicare.
Despite bipartisan support on Capitol Hill for extending a temporary payroll tax cut for the rest of 2012, lawmakers have yet to close the deal.
Our 401(k) and Roth investments are in stock index funds and commodities. We own no bonds. With a pension and Social Security, can we keep forgoing bonds? -- D.F., Washington, D.C.
It's a little ridiculous to have to be writing this story.
The statement: The Social Security payroll tax cut that President Barack Obama is seeking to extend "will cost the Social Security trust fund another $112 billion, and we don't have enough money this year in the Social Security trust fund to put out those checks -- which means we have to go to the general Treasury to get the money." -- Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann, at Saturday night's ABC News debate in Iowa. She added that the tax cut "blew a hole" in the trust fund.
In all the talk about whether to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut, a lot of the focus is on the economy: Will the recovery suffer if Congress lets it lapse?
Come January, will 160 million American workers owe a) more than; b) less than; c) the same as they've been paying in payroll taxes this year?
Senate Republicans on Wednesday released the outlines of their proposal to extend the payroll tax cut -- and it differs significantly from one put out by Senate Democrats.
Brooke Baldwin talks to Bob Cusack of "The Hill" about the supercommittee's deadline for a plan to cut $1.2 trillion
A week before their deadline, Democrats and Republicans on a special joint deficit committee blamed each other for a failure to compromise on how to reform the tax code and entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security.
A quarter of middle-class Americans are now so pessimistic about their savings that they are planning to delay retirement until they are at least 80 years old -- two years longer than the average person is even expected to live.
Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted Thursday to repeal the federal law that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.
Washington's latest parlor game is placing odds on a) whether the congressional debt committee will be able to agree on anything and b) if so, what?
The Social Security Administration has just announced that beneficiaries will receive a 3.6% cost-of-living adjustment in January. The average retired worker will see a $512 increase in annual benefits -- from $14,232 to $14,744 -- though a portion will be offset by higher Medicare premiums.
Senior citizens will soon get their first raise in three years, the government announced Wednesday.
Seniors got good news on Wednesday: Their Social Security checks will go up 3.6% next year because of a cost-of-living increase.
Senior citizens are expected to get their first raise in two years.
The federal government closed out fiscal year 2011 with an estimated deficit of $1.3 trillion, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates released Friday.
I'm terrified of the stock market these days. I plan to retire in April, but I'm afraid I'll lose everything before then. I want to put my money in a safer place, but I don't know where. Should I sell stocks now or wait to see if they go up in value? What do you think? -- Gerry
Here are four things we learned from Thursday night's Republican Party of Florida/Fox News/Google debate in Orlando, the third GOP presidential debate in as many weeks:
I think I stopped trusting the U.S. government right after learning that for 40 years, instead of treating a small group of poor, uneducated people officials had identified as having syphilis, officials not only withheld the diagnosis from them, but the cure as well, just to see what would happen if the disease went untreated.
Gov. Rick Perry and Mitt Romney go head-to-head over the entitlement program in the CNN/Tea Party Republican debate.
Alan Blinder, an economics professor at Princeton University, was a member of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Bill Clinton. Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, chaired the Council of Economic Advisers under President George W. Bush.
Social Security is still the third rail of American politics.
Most Americans believe the Social Security system needs major changes but they disagree with the characterization of it as a lie and a failure, according to a new national survey.
With Rick Perry instantly assuming the top spot among candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, it is no surprise that nearly every other man and woman on stage with him at last night's debate took aim.
CNN DC Bureau Chief Sam Feist on why CNN partnered with the Tea Party for tonight's debate and what viewers can expect.
Here are key storylines and strategies to watch for in Monday night's CNN/Tea Party Republican Debate.
CNN's Paul Steinhauser and Kate Lunger preview CNN's upcoming tea party debate.
At the MSNBC GOP debate, Gov. Rick Perry is asked about comments he made on Social Security in his latest book.
Debate newcomer Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney clashed over their job creation records, health care and Social Security at the Republican presidential debate Wednesday night.
A small, bipartisan group of lawmakers will be hunkering down this fall, negotiating ways to reduce deficits by at least $1.2 trillion over the next decade.
While many Americans worry that the Social Security Administration won't have enough money left to pay their benefits when they retire, the agency is doling out millions of dollars to people who aren't even alive.
Can you explain the value of owning an annuity? Most of my money is in the market, but I wonder whether it would make sense for me to own an annuity as well. -- Maria K. Sherman Oaks, Calif.
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are three of the government's most popular and relied upon programs.
Rick Perry is not a fan of Social Security -- or is he?
More Americans are being erroneously killed off by the Social Security Administration every day.
Since the issue arose in January until now, we take a look back at key moments in the U.S. debt debate.
Social Security recipients can breathe a sigh of relief.
Investors say markets have lost confidence amid U.S. debt crisis. CNN's Nina Dos Santos reports.
Picture a negotiation with your boss that goes something like this:
Social Security is safe...for now.
Don't you dare withhold our Social Security payments!
Baby boomers -- those born between 1946 and 1964 -- have been described as "the pig in the python" and the "sandwich generation."
CNN's John Vause explains how Bush and Obama's spending plans helped the U.S. approach the debt ceiling.
Can the government afford to send out Social Security checks next week if the debt ceiling isn't raised?
The risk of a U.S. default has incited panic among many older Americans, who are now calling the Social Security Administration to find out what's going to happen to their monthly benefits if the debt ceiling isn't raised by Aug. 2.
With the clock ticking down until the U.S. hits its debt ceiling, conservative and progressive third-party interest groups whose pledges lawmakers have signed their names to are ratcheting up the pressure to keep them in line.
With all the Washington dysfunction over the debt ceiling, it's easy to forget the reality of the debt problems everyone says they want to fix.
My fellow Americans: In a matter of weeks you have become studied on the issues of budgets and deficits. You've also formed opinions on these issues, and these opinions are reflected in poll after poll. Isn't it strange that Congress has yet to listen?
Make sure you know how much money you'll really need to retire comfortably by using these three tools.
Fortune: 3 stealth tax trapsupdated: Fri Jul 22 2011 14:03:00
Congressional gridlock over whether to cut or raise income taxes is obscuring a different threat to six-figure earners: a host of stealth taxes implemented in the name of deficit reduction. Many of the provisions, as with the dreaded alternative minimum tax, have never been adjusted for inflation. As a result, they have morphed into tax traps for upper-middle-income earners. Here are three of the most glaring examples.
CNN's Lisa Desjardins looks at what experts say would happen if the debt ceiling isn't increased by August 2nd.
Watching Republicans and Democrats squabble from their ideological battle lines over the debt ceiling is the same as watching a bratty child fall out in the middle of the floor with a temper tantrum when he doesn't get his way.
If Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling, I might have to send my mom $1,124 next month to make up for the Social Security check that never arrives.
President Obama has put the country on notice that he can't guarantee Social Security and other government checks will go out if the debt ceiling isn't raised by Aug. 2.
President Barack Obama's offer to reform federal tax policy would get a resounding thumbs-up from a number of the economic veterans who spoke at the 2011 Aspen Ideas Festival earlier this month.
President Obama says if no deal is made on the deficit, retirees may not receive their Social Security checks.
President Obama issued a broadside Tuesday in the debt ceiling debate, saying in a high-profile interview that he cannot ensure government benefits -- including Social Security -- will be paid if Congress fails to act.
Sen. Dick Durbin gives CNN's John King his inside view on the president and Congress's ongoing debt negotiations.
Democrats are aghast. They have every right to be. At least for now.
Bye-bye big debt ceiling deal. Hello, 11th hour brinksmanship.
House members react to Friday's dismal unemployment numbers.
Congressional Democrats, frustrated that President Obama is including entitlement changes in debt negotiations, pushed back Friday, insisting they will not support any benefit cuts to Medicare or Social Security.
With less than a month to go before debt ceiling D-Day, President Obama says he's gunning for the big deal -- the comprehensive, balanced plan that would take a big knife to the country's debt.
Sensing a shift away from their priorities, progressive Democrats and advocacy groups warned Thursday they could turn on President Barack Obama if a deficit-reduction deal reduces benefits in entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
President Barack Obama and congressional leaders from both parties launched a new round of negotiations on a deficit reduction deal Thursday and quickly scheduled a second meeting for Sunday, signaling a shared desire to ensure the federal debt ceiling gets raised to avoid possible default next month.
President Obama invites congressional leaders to White House for debt ceiling talks.
Worried that you're not saving enough to achieve the post-work life of your dreams? Let a retirement calculator give you a reality check.
If I retire early, how do I decide whether to take reduced Social Security benefits early or to delay payments and draw down on my savings? Is there some sort of "tipping point"? -- Douglas Goodman, Tacoma, Wash.
While America retains many underlying strengths, economists increasingly worry that unless we change course, the United States could be heading toward an economic train wreck. For months, the focus has been on the country slipping into a debt crisis. In the past few weeks, concerns have risen sharply about economic growth as well. Two top economists, Larry Summers and Carmen Reinhart, have asked aloud whether we could be stumbling into a "lost decade," a catastrophe that swept Japan in the 1990s.
The AARP said Friday it expects Social Security benefit cuts to be part of a package to make the program solvent for the long run.
I'm 70 years old and have $150,000, or about a third of my retirement savings, in immediate annuities. I'm thinking of increasing my annuities stake to 50% of my assets. Is that advisable? -- D.B., Saint John, Indiana
On Monday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner officially notified the world that the U.S. government could no longer meet all its obligations. That's because Republicans in Congress are blocking an increase in the debt limit -- the maximum debt the Treasury is allowed to contract -- making it impossible for the government to borrow as much as it needs to keep going. They deem this a fiscal emergency and want deep spending cuts.
Social Security and Medicare -- the country's two biggest entitlement programs -- will run dry earlier than expected, according a report Friday from the programs' trustees.
Social Security and Medicare will run short of funds earlier than expected, according a report released Friday by the programs' trustees.
It just got a little harder for banks to seize money from accounts holding federal benefits like Social Security and disability checks.
In making the case for why lawmakers need to tackle the long-term debt, President Obama chose the one projection that brings home the point better than any other.
My wife and I are 62 years old, have about $1.6 million in retirement savings and $250,000 in discretionary funds. We have no mortgage or debt payments. I get $12,500 a year from a pension and we both work part-time.
The battle lines over Social Security are being drawn a day before President Obama delivers a major speech on the nation's long-term fiscal dilemma.
With the federal government on the verge of a shutdown, many government services and agencies would be closed, suspended or otherwise affected.
Have you discussed your retirement plans with your spouse lately?
If you think cutting the government's budget is as easy as taking the ax to some unpopular federal programs, a new national poll suggests that you should think again.
Almost everyone in Washington knows that our national budget deficits and national debt are out of control. President Obama has said, "[W]e have to confront the fact that our government spends more than it takes in. That is not sustainable."
The first wave of of baby boomers -- including Cher, Steven Spielberg, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, and nearly 3 million other Americans -- will turn 65 this year. If you're among those celebrating in 2011 or the next few years, you may be feeling a bit gloomy about a birthday that officially crowns you a senior citizen. You're too young to be old, right?
Commentary: Maya MacGuineas is the director of the fiscal policy program at the New America Foundation.
Commentary: Maya MacGuineas is the director of the fiscal policy program at the New America Foundation.
If Congress fails to approve a spending bill before midnight on March 4, the federal government will shut down.
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