Excellent DU Soc Sec Article by Patricia Goldsmith

[papau]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/05/01/05_social.html

Corporatizing Social Security

January 5, 2004
By Patricia Goldsmith

We are hearing a lot about Social Security these days, mostly in terms of its soundness as an individual investment program. What we don't often hear are facts about its usefulness - its indispensability - as the mainstay of our fraying social safety net.

Consider the fact that two-thirds of all Americans who are retired or on disability rely on Social Security for fifty or more percent of their income, according to the Social Security Administration. One third rely on it for ninety percent of their income after retirement or should they become unable to work.

Our attention is instead directed to the fact that the Social Security trust fund, currently running a surplus designed to pay for baby boomers' retirement, will, by 2050 or thereabouts, be depleted to the point that it can only pay 80 percent of its benefits. This potential future shortfall, which Social Security has faced repeatedly throughout its history, is being called a crisis by Republicans.

In the past, in spite of dire warnings about future insolvency and the shrinking number of present workers supporting retirees, Social Security has been "saved" by simple adjustments to the Social Security payroll tax and to the age at which retirement benefits may be drawn. By simply raising the cap on the payroll tax so that workers continue to pay the tax on income over $90,000 a year and increasing the full-benefits retirement age, perhaps to 67 (I BELIEVE 67 IS A TYPO AND SHOULD BE 70), would eliminate the problem. But such a sensible solution is not what Republicans, who have always hated Social Security, are after. <snip>

[JDPriestly]

1. Thanks for posting this in the forum.

Great article, Patricia Goldsmith.