FILE - In this May 5, 2011 file photo, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner leaves Blair House in Washington, following a meeting on deficit reduction.  The bad economy has shortened the life of the trust funds that support Social Security and Medicare, the nation's two biggest benefit programs, the government reported Friday. The annual checkup said the Medicare hospital insurance fund will now be exhausted in 2024, five years earlier than last year's estimate. The new report says that the Social Security trust fund will be exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than before. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)