A plea for legislators for solve to Social Security’s financial problems. - The Fordham Ram; AMAC
It’s not just the old folks who are expressing their concerns over Social Security’s steadily–and rapidly–deteriorating financial condition. An article appearing today in The Fordham Ram, Fordham University’s student-run newspaper, offers an insightful opinion piece by student and contributing writer Michael Duke on the continuing lack of attention focused on developing a solution to the insolvency dilemma. Duke nails the problem with this paragraph: “Congress has proved to Americans that it doesn’t have a spine strong enough to work up a bipartisan, fair and adequate solution to the perils facing Social Security, and both parties are to blame. The gridlock has a chokehold on the debate and both parties want to understandably control the solutions. But this isn’t how the government is intended to work.” Let’s hope the sentiments expressed in this article, which you can read in full here, receive some widespread attention…before it’s too late to achieve a smooth correction.
So, what’s the answer to the concerns expressed by Duke–and many others–in discussions about Social Security? There are solutions, with many recommendations having been submitted to Congress for actuarial evaluation over the past few decades, yet no progress has been made toward a remedy. 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 through relatively slight program modifications, including changes to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) process and modifications to the formulas for calculating 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 to preserve Social Security for current and future generations and has garnered the attention of lawmakers in D.C., meeting with numerous congressional offices and staff over the past decade.
Duke’s article closes with the intriguing thought that Americans are owed “… less political grandstanding, less campaigning on potential solutions regarding Social Security, and more governance. The problems demand it, and Americans are owed it.”