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More on Social Security’s financial dilemma - Roosevelt Institute
As a companion to another article posted today hereon, this Roosevelt Institute article by Stephen Nuñez provides substantial detail about why a Social Security issue exists, and what can be done to prevent the Social Security Trust Funds from being fully depleted, necessitating an cut to everyone’s Social Security payment. Although the article goes into much detail, the points in the article are very germane to the overall topic of how lawmakers can protect Social Security beneficiaries and, indeed, strengthen Social Security’s “Old Age and Survivors Insurance program. Click here to read more.
As an example of leading thinking on reforming Social Security, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC, Inc.) believes Social Security must be preserved and modernized to serve future generations. AMAC’s position is that this can be achieved without payroll tax increases through relatively minor program modifications, including changes to the cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) process and modifications to the formulas for calculating initial benefits for 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) changing the taxable maximum formula to address the unintended loss of revenue; (4) improving survivor benefits, (5) eliminating the reduction in benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age; and (6) improving 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. See AMAC’s proposal for Social Security reform here.