Avery Econ Thesis

            In my thesis, I am focusing on the deficit being faced in the social security program as people who are classified as “baby boomers” (individuals born between 1946 and 1964) reach retirement age, especially in respect to the recent 2016 presidential election. Donald Trump stated before he was sworn into office that he was not going to touch social security, but there are people whom he has chosen to work beside him- men like Budget Director Mick Mulvaney, Social Security adviser Tom Leppert, and Department of Housing and Urban Development head, and former presidential candidate, Ben Carson- who have different ideas on the matter. In this paper I am going to look at the possible outcomes that coincide with the suggested solutions to this national issue.  Ideas like lowering taxes, reducing dependency on social security, and increasing the retirement age are all possible answers to the increasingly worrisome question- will there be enough money in the Social Security Trust to be disbursed to retired workers, the disabled, and the survivors of deceased workers? There is also the debate on whether a larger deficit could potentially be helpful to the economy. While Republicans tend to be more concerned about this kind of increased deficit, it can be argued this can be used to actually boost investments and money flow. Overall, I am going to look at the options for the best possible course of action in the upcoming years to alleviate the problem.