One of the biggest lies in today’s political discourse is that Social Security will not be around when today’s young workers are ready to retire.
Social Security is known as the “third rail” of politics and for good reason — it is untouchable without getting severely burned. Social Security is one of the truly loved American political ideas and programs. That is why it is not likely going away. Like anything in life and politics though, it can and must be improved.
Social Security is slowly going broke. The biggest reason why this is happening is because the Baby Boomers are retiring and they far outnumber the generations now working to support the program. This represents the first real challenge to Social Security’s funding.
So what is America to do about this problem? Many different plans and ideas are afoot as what to do with Social Security. Let us first examine the most blatantly false, ridiculous idea among them — it is unfixable.
Predictably, those who say Social Security is incapable of being funded and therefore must be scrapped fall on the conservative side of politics. They want to see the program privatized. Who would this hurt? Everyone who isn’t filthy rich. Who would this help? Wall Street.
The same folks who got rich off the lie that 401k’s are better than pensions will see their wallets really bulge under this scenario.
Do not forget, these are the same people who fought President Roosevelt so relentlessly when Social Security was in the process of becoming law.
So how then to adequately fund Social Security once we realize that starving it to death or privatizing hurts the vast majority of Americans?
Among the ideas proffered are raising the retirement age, reducing benefits for wealthy recipients, and changing the Cost of Living formula that dictates the percentage increase in benefits annually. These are all sound ideas but three ideas that no one wants to talk about are the true answers.
Of course, they involve raising taxes, something Washington politicians have no appetite for.
Not many know that every dollar earned after $100,100 is exempt from Social Security taxation. When the law was written, not many earned such a wage. Today as the income gap widens, many more do. Is it too much to ask that every dollar earned is taxed for Social Security? I believe not. This is just one example of wealthy Americans not paying their fair share. Second, the Social Security tax is currently 6.2 percent of income. I cannot see how raising this tax one percent or even 1.5 percent would really hamstring Americans financially.
Third, let us make all income eligible to be taxed for Social Security. The moneyed class makes a huge amount of their income on revenue that is not payroll. This includes stocks, capital gains, etc.
It is time these revenue streams are tapped to keep Social Security thriving. If these three actions were to put in place, Social Security would be solvent for decades to come, if not centuries.
Like so many problems that need to be tackled in our political climate, two actions need to occur: then exercise of political will for the good of all and the willingness to make the wealthy among us pay their fair share. If these two actions can be made to take place, Social Security will be around for our great-great-great-grandchildren. If we fail to do these two, the Social Security will be a memory and the lie that the program is unfixable will become true.
This will be a tragedy of greed and countless elderly lives will be forever changed for the far worse.
Remember that when the next politician talks about the unsustainability of Social Security.
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