the committee for a responsible federal budget, and their “fix the debt” project have mounted a full scale campaign to slash the deficit by
slashing Social Security… which has nothing to do with the deficit
except in so far as Congress is required to pay BACK the money it borrowed FROM Social Security.
So what a brilliant idea: let’s save money by not paying our debts.
that should solve the debt crisis, right? well, not exactly: the way to reduce the debt is to pay it off. this does not be part of CRFB’s agenda.
they particularly mention changing the CPI to a “more accurate” way to calculate inflation. there is some dispute as to what “more accurate” means, but in any case, since Social Security is paid for by the people who get the benefits, why should they not use a more generous measure of inflation if they need the higher benefits… and pay for them.
did i say that before: the workers pay for their own benefits. the congress pays absolutely nothing for Social Security.
the goal of CRFB has always been to destroy Social Security. read their proposals over time and you will see this quite plainly. this should be no surprise. CRFB is funded by those who have hated Social Security since it was invented. they told people at the time that they would never see a dime of their tax-and-tax and that Social Security would impose huge burdens on the young. well, eighty years later, hundreds of millions of people have gotten their money back with enough interest to beat inflation and match the average growth in real wages. and all that without being “burdened,” beyond, of course, paying for their own retirement through a progream designed to protect their savings from inflation and market losses, while the workers insure themselves… each other… from some highly predictable forms of personal bad luck. And all this without taking a dime from “the government” or from general taxes like income tax. The Social Security “payroll tax” is money with your name on it, that you get back, when you need it most.
You need to find a way to tell your congressperson you don’t mind paying for your own basic retirement needs through Social Security even if it requires a small increase in the payroll tax… about a dollar a week per year. And you know it does not increase the debt or have anything to do with “government” spending.
the committee for a responsible federal budget, and their “fix the debt” project have mounted a full scale campaign to slash the deficit by
slashing Social Security… which has nothing to do with the deficit
except in so far as Congress is required to pay BACK the money it borrowed FROM Social Security.
So what a brilliant idea: let’s save money by not paying our debts.
that should solve the debt crisis, right? well, not exactly: the way to reduce the debt is to pay it off. this does not be part of CRFB’s agenda.
they particularly mention changing the CPI to a “more accurate” way to calculate inflation. there is some dispute as to what “more accurate” means, but in any case, since Social Security is paid for by the people who get the benefits, why should they not use a more generous measure of inflation if they need the higher benefits… and pay for them.
did i say that before: the workers pay for their own benefits. the congress pays absolutely nothing for Social Security.
the goal of CRFB has always been to destroy Social Security. read their proposals over time and you will see this quite plainly. this should be no surprise. CRFB is funded by those who have hated Social Security since it was invented. they told people at the time that they would never see a dime of their tax-and-tax and that Social Security would impose huge burdens on the young. well, eighty years later, hundreds of millions of people have gotten their money back with enough interest to beat inflation and match the average growth in real wages. and all that without being “burdened,” beyond, of course, paying for their own retirement through a progream designed to protect their savings from inflation and market losses, while the workers insure themselves… each other… from some highly predictable forms of personal bad luck. And all this without taking a dime from “the government” or from general taxes like income tax. The Social Security “payroll tax” is money with your name on it, that you get back, when you need it most.
You need to find a way to tell your congressperson you don’t mind paying for your own basic retirement needs through Social Security even if it requires a small increase in the payroll tax… about a dollar a week per year. And you know it does not increase the debt or have anything to do with “government” spending.
All recessions are not the same.
Almost a decade later and we are still missing …..
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=I5F#0