Social Security 2100 – Another Look at the Details
In an in-depth article today on nationalreview.com, American Enterprise Institute resident scholar Andrew Biggs analyzes the long-term implications of the recently-announced Social Security 2100 Act, challenging several of the Act’s benefit assumptions. Biggs examines how the retirement picture for the poorest workers would evolve under the Act, noting that the projections for benefit increases of up to 44% may be elusive in reality. Similarly, Biggs’ analysis suggests that the trimming of benefits for upper income beneficiaries might be equally unattainable, given the change in taxation intended to benefit higher-income folks and the longer lifespans realized by this population segment.
Biggs commends the Social Security 2100 Act creator, Representative John Larson (D., Conn.), for taking an active approach in drawing attention to the program’s problems. Noting that “(w)ith most members of Congress from both parties willing to go their entire careers without proposing anything to fix Social Security’s $10 trillion–plus funding shortfall, any congressman who does — to say nothing of one who attracts 80 percent of his own party to co-sponsor the bill — (Larson) should be applauded.” While Biggs’ article calls many of the Act’s assumptions into question, it nevertheless highlights the complexities of achieving a reasonable solution to Social Security’s daunting problem, and likewise highlights the urgency of corrective action. Click here to read the full National Review article.
Given Social Security’s much-publicized looming problem, it’s likely that there will be a growing level of attention focused on the subject in the weeks, months, and years ahead. In fact, the need to strengthen and modernize Social Security is the basic premise of the “The Social Security Guarantee Act” developed by the Association of Mature American Citizens(AMAC) and currently being advanced in Washington. The Act proposed by AMAC differs from the Social Security Act of 2100, but includes several fundamental changes that would straighten Social Security without increasing taxes, and that would include a provision to help younger workers prepare for their retirement years. Learn more about this Act here…