Bad News on Social Security: We're Going to Live Longer

That's what Gary King and Samir Soneji tell us in a NYT column this morning. The gist of the piece is that the authors have assessed trends in mortality rates from a variety of factors and concluded that the Social Security Administration is underestimating life expectancy. Therefore the program will cost more than is projected, meaning that the long-term funding gap is larger than projected.

Before dealing with the scary prospect of living longer let's first address some trivia. The piece te...