I highly doubt the USG wont have funding problems until 2040. That is crazy talk. Believe it or not, SS is not in a locked box and we have a few little tiny budget problems going on now.
With unemployment rising, the payroll tax revenue that finances Social Security benefits for nearly 51 million retirees and other recipients is falling, according to a report from the Congressional Budget Office. As a result, the trust fund’s annual surplus is forecast to all but vanish next year — nearly a decade ahead of schedule — and deprive the government of billions of dollars it had been counting on to help balance the nation’s books.
The Treasury Department has for decades borrowed money from the Social Security trust fund to finance government operations.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is proposing to completely eliminate the state’s welfare program for families, medical insurance for low-income children and Cal Grants cash assistance to college and university students.