> to maintain, rather than raise, inflation The Committee judges that there has been considerable improvement in labor market conditions this year, and it is r

> to maintain, rather than raise, inflation The Committee judges that there has been considerable improvement in labor market conditions this year, and it is reasonably confident that inflation will rise, over the medium term, to its 2 percent objective. Given the economic outlook, and recognizing the time it takes for policy actions to affect future economic outcomes, the Committee decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to 1/4 to 1/2 percent. The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative after this increase, thereby supporting further improvement in labor market conditions and a return to 2 percent inflation. http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20151216a.htm http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/2015... > exhaustion of the Old Age & Survivors Trust Fund is in 2035, not 2029 Social Security’s combined reserves likely will be fully depleted by 2034, according to the trustees’ intermediate forecast. The disability-insurance trust fund could run dry as soon as the end of 2016, while the old-age and survivors’ fund is expected to be depleted in 2035 – assuming it’s not tapped to backfill the disability fund. (The Congressional Budget Office, in a separate report that uses somewhat different demographic assumptions, projects that the disability fund will be exhausted in fiscal 2017 and the old-age and survivors’ fund in calendar 2031; if the funds are combined, they would be exhausted in calendar 2029.) The exact depletion dates depend, of course, on future demographic and economic trends. After the reserves are exhausted, the system still will be receiving tax revenue, but it will only be enough to pay about three-quarters of scheduled benefits – unless Congress changes the benefit formulas, raises the payroll tax, or makes other changes such as raising the cap on taxable wage income (currently $118,500). http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/18/5-facts-about-social-security/ http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/08/18/5-facts-abou...