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Another look at the $5,000 “stimulus” loan idea from Social Security
We at Social Security Report (SSR) have been writing this week on an idea being discussed at The White House that would loan people $5,000 now in exchange for them delaying their Social Security retirement benefit by about three months later. Experts are beginning to weigh in, more unfavorably than supportive thus far, but this Fox news article takes another look at and summarizes the concept. We at SSR caution against “raiding” the program when it is headed for insolvency in just over a decade and wonder how the scheme would work in that the money folks have paid into the program is not theirs. Current workers pay current beneficiaries, and today’s workers will be paid with revenue from their children and grandchildren, a sort of inter-generational transfer. That is how Social Security has always worked and theoretically will always work. Nonetheless, the full Fox article on the proposal is here.
The Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) is leery of proposals that depletes the solvency of the Social Security Trust Fund sooner than is currently predicted (2034, though likely sooner with the pandemic). AMAC believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized by making modest changes in cost of living adjustments and the retirement age, with no tax increases on workers. AMAC supports a bipartisan compromise, “The Social Security Guarantee Act,” taking portions of bills introduced by former Rep. Johnson (R-TX) and current Rep. Larson (D-CT) and merging them with the Association’s own research. One component is Social Security PLUS, a new, voluntary plan that would allow all earners to have more income available at retirement. This component is intended to appeal especially to younger workers. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved and modernized and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in DC, meeting with many congressional offices and staff over the past several years. Read AMAC’s plan here.