Political Promises vs. Social Security Reality - Motley Fool
During the 2024 election season, we often heard candidates promising that cuts to Social Security were “off the table.” President Trump was among those so promising but, as is already evident, that promise did not extend to cutting waste and fraud within the Social Security Administration (surely a good thing). But the question remains – what about reforming Social Security to avoid benefits cuts in the year 2033 (as predicted by Social Security’s Trustees)? Fact is, political promises not withstanding, Social Security reform needs to occur soon to avoid an across-the-board cut in everyone’s benefit in about 8 years hence. And, as this Motley Fool article by Sean Williams suggests, that reform will almost certainly require bipartisan cooperation.
For it’s part, AMAC (the Association of Mature American Citizens) has, for years, been working on the issue of Social Security solvency, and has developed excellent ideas for SS reform. AMAC’s believes SS solvency can be achieved with minimal tax increases and by slight modifications to cost of living adjustments and payments to high income beneficiaries plus gradually increasing the full (but not early) retirement age. AMAC Action, AMAC’s advocacy arm, supports raising the thresholds at which benefits are taxed and then indexing for inflation, and calls for eliminating the reduction in people’s benefits for those choosing to work before full retirement age. 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.