We often hear Social Security is running out of money, but what does that actually mean?

On today’s show, we answer a listener question about the future of Social Security. TLDR, recipients won’t stop getting Social Security checks, but eventually their payments might shrink. Plus, we explain why semiconductors are so hard to make, what’s the deal with returnless refunds, and hollowed-out shell Thursday versus hollowed-out shell of a Thursday.

Here’s everything we talked about today:

• “Social Security won’t be able to pay full benefits by 2034” from CNN

• “Status of the Social Security and Medicare Programs” from the Social Security Administration 

• “The Chip Shortage Keeps Getting Worse. Why Can’t We Just Make More?” from Bloomberg 

• “Retail therapy is great, but returns can take the fun out of it” from Marketplace 

• “Amazon, Walmart Tell Consumers to Skip Returns of Unwanted Items” from The Wall Street Journal

Read the transcript here.

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