Social Security - $6.6 Trillion

Part of the reason for this problem is that early beneficiaries received benefits that were far higher than their payments would have warranted, to the tune of $17 trillion. This estimate was based upon work done by Dean R. Leimer of the Social Security Administration`s Office of Policy, Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics.

Another part of the problem is that the actual surpluses generated by the program were spent to fund other spending (budget deficits) rather than invested in a way that would produce revenue in the future.

The long-term problems with the Social Security system have been well known for a long-time. The day of reckoning were put off by a set of Amendments in 1983, following the recommendations of the Greenspan Commission and then again during the Clinton administration by the 1993 Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act.

Both Presidents Clinton and Bush also attempted more far-reaching reforms.