You'd have to have been living under a rock to be surprised by last week's news from the Social Security and Medicare trustees that the programs are in trouble.

In a nutshell: The U.S. population is aging, health-care costs are spiraling upward and neither program has the money to cover promised benefits. In addition, politicians have known this for many years, and yet no progress has been made in fixing the programs.

The deteriorating economy has made things worse.

The date when the Social Security trust fund will start running deficits has moved closer by a year, to 2016, and the date of trust fund depletion has advanced by four years, to 2037. The Medicare hospital insurance trust fund is already running a deficit and will be exhausted by 2017.

Source: Washington Post