Social Security is Not the Problem,Hombres, By Louise Annarino,MArch 9,2013
This week,I watch the machinations of Washington with a jaundiced eye and pained heart wondering how lunches and dinners between enemies can end in anything other than a poisoned outcome. The fix to social security is simple. Several pieces of legislation recently introduced in the House and Senate would extend its full solvency far beyond the needs of the “baby boomers” and long-lived seniors expected in our future. Yet, Republicans insist it is causing our deficit problems and must be cut, and retirement age delayed, to avoid any tax increase to the top 1% of this country.
This reminds me of the scene from an old western: outside the saloon a group of hombres with drawn guns shoot at the feet of the sheriff to make him dance, just for their sport. Cowards and bullies displaying their power and control over the town’s population. These disreputable shooters were usually financed by the richest land-owner in the area. This iconic scene always makes my skin crawl. It makes me want to lift my skirts and run them down, shoving their faces into the ground.Are you with me?
Social Security has a $2.7 trillion dollar surplus. It has contributed $0 to the government deficit.It is not used to calculate current debt.It can pay out every benefit owed for the next 20 years,after which most baby boomers will be dead. It is the most successful social program in our country’s,maybe the world’s,history. It has made poverty in old age rare (less than 10%). It is safer than anyone’s 401K, as the latest Wall Street bust just proved beyond a doubt. Young workers should applaud it,not fear it.
Democratic Senators Reid,Leahy,Boxer,Franken,Blumenthal,Whitehouse and Klobuchar have introduced a legislative fix. “Under their legislation, those with yearly incomes of $250,000 or more would pay the same 6.2 percent payroll tax already assessed on those who earn up to $113,700 a year. Applying the Social Security payroll tax on income above $250,000 would only affect the wealthiest 1.3 percent of Americans, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Social Security officials say that simple change would yield about 85 billion a year to keep the retirement program strong for at least another 50 years.” http://vtdigger.org/2013/03/07/sanders-reid-defazio-introduce-legislation-to-strengthen-social-security/. Senator Sanders and Representative DeFazio have introduced similar legislation to simply remove the cap on $250,000 payroll assessment.
This legislation would assure Social Security benefits continue unabated COLA increases each year. Chained CPI is NOT a fix;it is merely a means to reduce future increases and decrease income levels for those who rely on Social Security as their sole source of income. As it now stands, the COLA increases are often absorbed by the increases in medicare deductions. Chained CPI would only make this travesty worse.
annarino writes 