Social Security’s Reckoning: A Sobering Viewpoint on What Should be Emphasized - Witherspoon Institute
A quick look at political headlines today will show that the long-term financial problems facing our Social Security system are becoming more widely known. We’re in a less-than-decade window of when action must be taken—either corrective action or default action in the form of benefit cuts. Despite the gravity, the positions expressed in the run-up to the 2024 Presidential election, for the most part, favor the status quo.
Of course, economists and politicians alike are well aware of the inevitable point of insolvency. Unfortunately, the political realities of promoting a solution continue to defer serious consideration of corrective measures even as the clock winds down. What needs to happen—and happen soon—is thoughtful discussion on how best to achieve the original objectives set almost 90 years ago for Social Security, namely relieving old-age financial hardship for those most vulnerable. Yesterday, the Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discourse journal posted a thought-provoking piece by Freedom and Virtue Institute’s Kevin Schmiesing assessing the original intent of Social Security and contrasting it to how it has evolved since its 1940 launch.
As Schmiesing observes, the rapidly approaching inflection point facing Social Security may provide the opportunity to re-think much of the program’s structure. He offers conjecture on the importance of means-testing to reinforce Social Security’s original design premise of targeting benefits to those most in need while minimizing “negative consequences for families and civil society.” Overall, Schmiesing presents a thorough and studious examination of perspectives for consideration in the deliberations ahead for this critical senior support program.
Similar to many consulting organizations, the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC) has been heavily engaged in development of a solution that would preserve and modernize Social Security for generations to come. This effort by AMAC and its subsidiaries, AMAC Action and AMAC Foundation, has resulted in AMAC’s Social Security Guarantee (SSG), a slate of adjustments across a range of target areas with an intent to preserve the program for current beneficiaries and to align it with 21st Century demographics and economics.
AMAC’s SSG is balanced and singles no group out with excessive changes and designed to extend the solvency of the program and prevent across-the-board benefit reductions. Click here to learn more about AMAC’s approach to resolving Social Security’s dilemma.