Budget

The Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) was created by Congress in 1974 to insure all private-sector pensions against employer bankruptcy and underfunding. By 2006, the PBGC was responsible for insuring pensions for 44 million working and retired Americans.

As baby-boomers have aged, so has the population of the United States. This has consequences, in particular for the nation’s labor force. In the 20 years from 1990 to 2010, the labor force in the United States grew 24.4%, keeping pace with the country’s population growth of 26%.  From 2010 to 2030, however, while the population will climb an additional 17.5%, the labor force is expected to grow only 10.5%.

After the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers, two reasons are often cited for bailing out banks. First, it is assumed that bankruptcy greatly reduces the value of a firm’s assets. Second, such an action would have negative effects on the firm’s lenders that would ripple outward.  If a company is sufficiently large, it’s seen as “too big to fail,” and thus must be bailed out.

From the Scholars Strategy Network, written by Alexander Hertel-Fernandez and Theda Skocpol of Harvard University. Edited for Journalist’s Resource.

The U.S. Congressional Budget Office estimates that gross spending on the Medicare program is expected to nearly double in nominal terms to $1,038 billion in 2020. In addition, as a proportion of gross domestic product, Medicare spending would likely grow from 3.5% in 2009 to 4.6% in 2020.