Latest News
Half Of America’s Seniors Have Dangerously Low Incomes, New Report Shows
Nearly half of the country’s senior citizens are economically vulnerable, a new report from the Economic Policy Institute finds.About 19.9 million, or 48 percent, of America’s seniors have incomes that are less than two times the supplemental poverty line, according to the report.…
Senators Introduce Bipartisan Legislation to Reduce Overlapping Benefit Payments
U.S. Senators Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Angus King (I-ME), and Joe Manchin (D-WV) introduced the Reducing Overlapping Payments Act, which aims to protect the Social Security Disability Insurance and Unemployment Insurance programs by reducing overlapping benefits. Read…
Letter: Chained CPI must be opposed
We all need to act now because Congress and the Obama administration are talking about changing the measure of inflation for Social Security benefits by using what is called a chained Consumer Price Index. This chained CPI proposal significantly changes…
How Important is Social Security to Your Retirement Plans?
Social Security recipients will receive a 1.7% cost-of-livng increase to their benefits in 2013, but many are wondering if that will be enough if prices for essentials like food and gas continue to rise. Meanwhile, individuals approaching retirement age are…
Sayin’ it ain’t so won’t work
A Medicare trustees’ report earlier this month all but guarantees the current Congress will do nothing about the program’s pending insolvency. Issued at the same time, another trustee’s report spells the same fate for setting right the beleaguered Social Security…
Parker: Replace Social Security with personal retirement accounts
The annual Trustees Report for Social Security has just been issued and the news is that there is no news. Social Security is on its way over a fiscal cliff – just as we hear every year when the report…
Senate candidates missed the mark on some points
Much of Wednesday night’s debate between Republican Gabriel E. Gomez and Edward J. Markey pivoted on Markey’s voting record and what he has or has not done during his almost 37 years in Congress. Here’s a look at a few…
Social Security Isn’t a Basket Case
Social Security is O.K.. Yes, “O.K.” is hardly an exuberant term. Nevertheless, considering the apocalyptic language hurled at the social insurance program in recent years—Ponzi scheme, monstrous lie, imminent bankruptcy—it’s a reassuring judgment. Read more…
Statement of Robert Greenstein, President, on the 2013 Social Security Trustees’ Report
Social Security does not face an immediate crisis, the trustees’ report shows, but it does face a funding shortfall two decades from now that the President and Congress should address in the near future so the program can fully meet…
Trust funds are least of Social Security, Medicare problems
The annual trustees’ reports for Social Security and Medicare — the 2013 editions have just been released — are supposed to keep the public well informed about these popular programs. In reality, they do just the opposite: They confuse and mislead. Worse,…