In making the pitch for Social Security personal accounts in his 2005 State of the Union speech, former President George W. Bush declared that absent action, “Thirteen years from now, in 2018, Social Security will be paying out more than it takes in … By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt.”

In response, Democrats portrayed his warnings as alarmist and successfully deployed the argument that there was no Social Security crisis.