Social Security Report

Social Security’s Future: Not the Program Grandpa Knew

That Social Security is unsustainable as we know it long-term is hardly news.  Martin Feldstein’s opinion piece in MarketWatch explains how the increase in life expectancy, the decreased birth rate, and the payroll tax rate not having changed since 1983 have combined to create a sort of perfect storm.  He claims the choice going forward for pension systems in most developed countries will be cutting benefit levels substantially or introducing much higher taxes.  While noting the ratio of workers to retirees is declining, Feldstein believes it would be politically unpalatable to take the payroll tax from 12.4% to 18%.  Instead, Feldstein advocates for a mixed system that combines the stability of the current pay-as-you-go benefits with the higher return of market-based investments.  Read his full piece here.

The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) has a different approach, making modest changes in cost of living adjustments and the retirement age, without the need for any tax increases on workers.  AMAC advocates for a bipartisan compromise, “The Social Security Guarantee Act,” taking selected portions of bills introduced by Rep. Johnson (R-TX) and Rep. Larson (D-CT) and merging them with the Association’s own well researched ideas.  AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved and modernized and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in DC, meeting with a great many congressional offices and their legislative staffs over the past several years.  Read AMAC’s plan here.

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