Social Security Reform: A Potential Costly Mistake - Comm. for a Responsible Federal Budget
If you follow the news at all, you are likely well aware that the nation’s premier senior retirement program – Social Security – is facing some financial issues in merely seven years! That is certainly cause for concern among our legislators and various media pundits, some of who have suggested an easy fix: take money from the U.S. General Treasury to restore the program to solvency for years to come. But, according to this insightful article by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that would be a terrible mistake. Among other things, it would explode the national debt (already over $38 trillion) , and cause interest rates to skyrocket. And it would end Social Security’s fundamental premise – to operate using self-funded revenue sources. Social Security is now entirely funded by American workers and their employers, and changing that to more of a welfare program would be a costly mistake and a burden on all future generations of Americans. Click here to read this article by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
As an example of the leading thoughts on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized to meet the demands of 21st-century economics. AMAC’s position is that this can be achieved without payroll tax increases via relatively slight program modifications, including cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) process changes and modifications to the formulas for calculation of payments to higher-income beneficiaries. Changes to the age for maximizing benefits are included in AMAC’s position, along with (1) an increase in the thresholds where benefits are subject to income tax; (2) indexing of these thresholds annually to account for inflation; (3) improved survivor benefits, (4) eliminating the reduction in benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age; and (5) improved savings tools for future retirees, including a savings account that builds estate value. AMAC is resolute in its mission that Social Security be preserved for current and successive generations and has gotten the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with many congressional offices and staff over the past decade.