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Bill Would Change Social Security - Yahoo!
A legislative bill to be soon introduced in Congress would make changes to the Social Security program, increasing benefits for many, changing how COLA (cost of living adjustment) is computed, and increasing payroll taxes on higher earners. This, of course, all sounds good, until you dig into the details and consider how Social Security’s overall financial picture would affected. Increasing benefits across the board while Social Security is experiencing financial stress hardly helps the program, and simply raising payroll taxes on higher earners solves only a relatively moderate percentage of the problem. The change proposed to the COLA calculation is to switch from using the current “CPI-W” metric to a new factor known as the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly, or “CPI-E.” Problem with this is that the CPI-E is an experimental metric which, according to many projections, would have only a minimal (if any) impact on actual COLA increases. The proposal to be introduced is not really new because similar proposals have been introduced in previous years so, as has been the case previously, enactment by the full Congress seems highly improbable. Nevertheless, this Yahoo! article by Patrick Villanova, CEPF, provides detail on the forthcoming bill called “Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust.” Click here to read more.
AMAC has been at the forefront trying to strengthen Social Security by developing and proposing its Social Security Guarantee, which provides a guaranteed COLA and restores Social Security to solvency without raising taxes. AMAC has been discussing and continues to discuss this common-sense solution with Congressional Representatives in its efforts to protect America’s senior citizens who rely on Social Security. To review AMAC’s Social Security Guarantee, click here.