The 2009 Board of Trustees Report for the Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds was released earlier this year. The 2009 report finds that the trust funds’ reserves are projected to be depleted in 2037, down from 2041 as predicted in the 2008 report.
The main culprit is not surprisingly the recession, with negative real grown of the economy, a high unemployment rate which results in fewer Social Security taxes collected, and additional claims filed.