The Economist Magazine told readers that in 2017 Social Security, together with Medicare and Medicaid, "will be starting to bankrupt the country." Of course Social Security will in fact be fully funded for another 32 years past 2017 according to the Congressional Budget Office's latest projection. With equal validity, we can say that White House lawn maintenance, together with Medicare and Medicaid will be starting to bankrupt the country. The reality is that projections of exploding private sector health care cost imply enormous economic problems for the country, including budget problems as a result of public sector health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid. The real cause of the Economist's bankruptcy is the problems in the private health care system. [Thanks to Jon Schwartz for pointing this one out.]
--Dean Baker