The American indifference to the problems at Social Security continue to be ignored:
Tens of millions of retirees and other Americans could see smaller monthly Social Security checks in six years if lawmakers don’t act to shore up the program’s finances, according to an annual report released Tuesday by Social Security’s trustees.
Social Security’s retirement trust fund — which helps support payments to senior citizens, their dependents and survivors of deceased workers — is expected to be exhausted in late 2032, which is one quarter earlier than previously forecast, according to the trustees. At that time, payroll tax revenue and other income sources will be able to cover only 78% of benefits owed.
That means the next president could be faced with having to address Social Security’s shaky finances, which have long been considered a third rail in American politics. The issue could play a more prominent role in the 2028 presidential campaign if the projected expected insolvency date remains only a few years away.
The combined Social Security’s retirement and disability trust funds — are expected to be exhausted in 2034, the same as last year’s forecast, according to the trustees. At that time, payroll tax revenue and other income sources will be able to cover only 83% of benefits owed.
I don’t understand why this isn’t a huge issue in American politics. We addressed our problem with CPP back in the ’90’s – about thirty years ago. Since then, administrations of both stripes have ignored the issue, which is looming, obvious and public knowledge: Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump #1, Biden, Trump #2 . ‘Low taxes, low taxes’ the chant goes … never mind that taxes (local + regional + federal + deficits) are basically the sme in the US and Canada, as far as I’ve ever been able to tell, as long as you don’t count medical expenses as a tax because, you know, insurance covers it.
I suspect that this is because America’s billionaires basically run the show down there; they couldn’t care less about Social Security.
| HIMIPref™ Preferred Indices These values reflect the December 2008 revision of the HIMIPref™ Indices Values are provisional and are finalized monthly |
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| Index | Mean Current Yield (at bid) |
Median YTW |
Median Average Trading Value |
Median Mod Dur (YTW) |
Issues | Day’s Perf. | Index Value |
| Ratchet | 5.67 % | 6.06 % | 27,894 | 14.78 | 1 | 0.0000 % | 2,588.6 |
| FixedFloater | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.0711 % | 4,916.1 |
| Floater | 5.54 % | 5.76 % | 38,673 | 14.18 | 3 | 0.0711 % | 2,833.2 |
| OpRet | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.6850 % | 3,639.9 |
| SplitShare | 4.79 % | 4.34 % | 50,745 | 2.77 | 5 | 0.6850 % | 4,346.9 |
| Interest-Bearing | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | 0.6850 % | 3,391.6 |
| Perpetual-Premium | 5.67 % | 5.53 % | 78,074 | 6.55 | 7 | 0.2662 % | 3,078.4 |
| Perpetual-Discount | 5.58 % | 5.63 % | 42,936 | 14.40 | 28 | 0.3608 % | 3,380.5 |
| FixedReset Disc | 5.63 % | 5.94 % | 130,992 | 13.82 | 19 | -0.3921 % | 3,301.7 |
| Insurance Straight | 5.47 % | 5.52 % | 46,846 | 14.58 | 22 | 0.2379 % | 3,294.8 |
| FloatingReset | 4.65 % | 4.66 % | 24,601 | 16.20 | 1 | 0.0000 % | 4,095.3 |
| FixedReset Prem | 5.93 % | 4.70 % | 81,708 | 2.27 | 29 | -0.1177 % | 2,648.0 |
| FixedReset Bank Non | 0.00 % | 0.00 % | 0 | 0.00 | 0 | -0.3921 % | 3,375.0 |
| FixedReset Ins Non | 5.14 % | 5.36 % | 72,339 | 14.50 | 14 | -0.3392 % | 3,214.2 |
| Performance Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Change | Notes |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset Ins Non | -4.19 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 19.00 Evaluated at bid price : 19.00 Bid-YTW : 5.74 % |
| ENB.PF.C | FixedReset Disc | -2.58 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.36 Evaluated at bid price : 23.00 Bid-YTW : 6.24 % |
| ENB.PF.E | FixedReset Disc | -2.12 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.37 Evaluated at bid price : 23.05 Bid-YTW : 6.21 % |
| BN.PR.X | FixedReset Disc | -2.07 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 21.30 Evaluated at bid price : 21.30 Bid-YTW : 5.90 % |
| PWF.PR.A | Floater | -1.75 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 14.60 Evaluated at bid price : 14.60 Bid-YTW : 5.39 % |
| ENB.PR.J | FixedReset Disc | -1.74 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.87 Evaluated at bid price : 23.70 Bid-YTW : 6.10 % |
| GWO.PR.R | Insurance Straight | -1.38 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 21.40 Evaluated at bid price : 21.40 Bid-YTW : 5.62 % |
| GWO.PR.Q | Insurance Straight | -1.30 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.55 Evaluated at bid price : 22.80 Bid-YTW : 5.65 % |
| MFC.PR.K | FixedReset Ins Non | -1.09 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 23.64 Evaluated at bid price : 25.37 Bid-YTW : 5.36 % |
| BN.PF.A | FixedReset Prem | -1.04 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Call Maturity Date : 2028-09-30 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.78 Bid-YTW : 5.93 % |
| ENB.PR.B | FixedReset Disc | 1.11 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.09 Evaluated at bid price : 22.75 Bid-YTW : 6.09 % |
| PWF.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | 1.20 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 21.00 Evaluated at bid price : 21.00 Bid-YTW : 5.68 % |
| ENB.PR.Y | FixedReset Disc | 1.21 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.17 Evaluated at bid price : 22.62 Bid-YTW : 6.09 % |
| PWF.PR.L | Perpetual-Discount | 1.28 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.71 Evaluated at bid price : 23.00 Bid-YTW : 5.61 % |
| PWF.PR.K | Perpetual-Discount | 1.45 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.10 Evaluated at bid price : 22.32 Bid-YTW : 5.61 % |
| POW.PR.B | Perpetual-Discount | 1.48 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 23.69 Evaluated at bid price : 24.00 Bid-YTW : 5.65 % |
| BN.PR.K | Floater | 1.55 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 13.80 Evaluated at bid price : 13.80 Bid-YTW : 5.76 % |
| PWF.PR.S | Perpetual-Discount | 1.84 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 21.37 Evaluated at bid price : 21.64 Bid-YTW : 5.61 % |
| PVS.PR.M | SplitShare | 2.58 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Hard Maturity Maturity Date : 2031-03-31 Maturity Price : 25.00 Evaluated at bid price : 25.43 Bid-YTW : 4.78 % |
| CU.PR.H | Perpetual-Discount | 2.73 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 24.21 Evaluated at bid price : 24.50 Bid-YTW : 5.38 % |
| IFC.PR.F | Insurance Straight | 4.76 % | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 23.73 Evaluated at bid price : 24.00 Bid-YTW : 5.62 % |
| Volume Highlights | |||
| Issue | Index | Shares Traded |
Notes |
| ENB.PR.P | FixedReset Disc | 62,400 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 23.02 Evaluated at bid price : 24.00 Bid-YTW : 5.94 % |
| ENB.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | 28,900 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 23.26 Evaluated at bid price : 24.65 Bid-YTW : 5.84 % |
| ENB.PF.C | FixedReset Disc | 13,500 | YTW SCENARIO Maturity Type : Limit Maturity Maturity Date : 2056-06-09 Maturity Price : 22.36 Evaluated at bid price : 23.00 Bid-YTW : 6.24 % |
| There were 0 other index-included issues trading in excess of 10,000 shares. | |||
| Wide Spread Highlights | ||
| See TMX DataLinx: ‘Last’ != ‘Close’ and the posts linked therein for an idea of why these quotes are so horrible. | ||
| Issue | Index | Quote Data and Yield Notes |
| GWO.PR.N | FixedReset Ins Non | Quote: 19.00 – 20.50 Spot Rate : 1.5000 Average : 1.0592 YTW SCENARIO |
| ENB.PF.C | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 23.00 – 24.00 Spot Rate : 1.0000 Average : 0.6069 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.T | Insurance Straight | Quote: 23.20 – 25.00 Spot Rate : 1.8000 Average : 1.5339 YTW SCENARIO |
| BN.PR.T | FixedReset Disc | Quote: 22.90 – 23.55 Spot Rate : 0.6500 Average : 0.4094 YTW SCENARIO |
| GWO.PR.Q | Insurance Straight | Quote: 22.80 – 23.55 Spot Rate : 0.7500 Average : 0.5682 YTW SCENARIO |
| IFC.PR.K | Insurance Straight | Quote: 23.90 – 25.10 Spot Rate : 1.2000 Average : 1.0496 YTW SCENARIO |