On MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews, former Republican National Committee chairman Ed Gillespie claimed that Social Security faces a “financial calamity” in 2018, when the trust fund “begins paying out more than it takes in,” and asserted that "[w]e better be prepared as a country to deal with it." But government studies show that Social Security will be able to pay out full promised benefits for several decades. The program will have sufficient funds to pay full benefits until 2042, according to a report by the Social Security trustees, or until 2052, according to a study by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

From the March 9 edition of Hardball:

GILLESPIE: Thirteen years from now, the Social Security trust fund begins paying out more than it takes in, a financial calamity to the most important social program in our country today. We better be prepared as a country to deal with it.