by Dale Coberly THE CBO AND SOCIAL SECURITY HYSTERIA and HONEST MATH The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) recently released a new projection for the costs of Social Security  [no citation.  I looked up the link in the AEI article (below) and did not immediately find a projection for SS].   They say that increases in […]

by Dale Coberly SOCIAL SECURITY AND INNUMERACY MATH HELP FOR K*ASTINGS In the open thread section last night constant reader B*uce K*asting reported: “CBO changed some variables, the result was an increase in the unfunded numbers. In 2012 CBO concluded that the shortfall was 1.9% of payrolls. In 2013 they increased that to 3.4% – […]

Brad DeLong adds his voice to the people addressing the retirement woes of many: Edward Filene’s idea from the 1920s of having companies run employer-sponsored defined-benefit plans has, by and large, come a-crashing down. Companies turn out not to be long-lived enough to run pensions with a high enough probability. And when they are there […]

by Dale Coberly CHUCK BLAHOUS FINDS THE ANSWER FOR SOCIAL SECURITY AND LOSES IT. Charles Blahous is one of the politically appointed Trustees for Social Security. He has written “A Guide To The 2013 Social Security Trustees Report” at e21 Economic Policies for the 21st Century http://www.economics21.org/commentary/guide-2013-social-security-trustees-report . Blahous tells us “Social Security faces a […]

by Linda Beale Another reason for NOT cutting Social Security benefits–seniors poorer than you think As everybody knows, a constant refrain of the far-right GOP establishment is a desire to cut taxes for the wealthy while cutting benefits for the poor. The ideological right talks about benefits for the poor as “welfare” but never talks […]

This is a re-posting of a Bruce Webb post from January, 2010.  A reminder of a well crafted plan to date: Seven Steps to Social Security cuts via Debt Commission For those of you who didn’t go the short version of my comment is that the strategy to get major slashes to Social Security and […]

Lifted from comments comes a beginning thought on the term ‘sustainability’ for programs…Sustainability Rusty asks: Is there an accepted definition for “sustainability?”I tend to think of it in an environmental context, but apparently it is used more broadly. Your thoughts? Bruce Webb’s quick reply: STR, well in Social Security lingo ‘sustainable’ is mostly used in […]

by Linda Beale Obama caves yet again: offering Social Security cuts to appease the right… Obama’s budget isn’t even released yet and he’s already caving to the “let’s make the rich richer and forget the rest” crowd.  That crowd that claims that we need a capital gains preference so the rich can gather all that […]

Via Daily Kos Bruce Webb writes: When the Ryan Roadmap to Prosperity/2013 Republican House Budget was released some otherwise sharp observers like Ezra Klein claimed it just gave Social Security a pass: Here is Paul Ryan’s path to a balanced budget in three sentences: He cuts deep into spending on health care for the poor […]

This item confirms that the Northwest Plan for Social Security would work rather well for Congress, Social Security, and beneficiaries. Beltway conventional wisdom thought otherwise. My own reaction was of puzzlement by the Beltway conventional wisdom. Fiscal Times reports: We’ve already seen evidence that consumers have largely shrugged off this year’s expiration of the payroll tax […]