Don't Blow Away
Social Security
continued from main story, page two
What's
Wrong with
Raising the Retirement Age
& Other "Popular Ideas"?
There are many other proposals afloat for "saving" Social Security.
There’s Clinton’s idea of setting up voluntary "Universal Savings
Accounts" outside the Social Security system. Workers could contribute through
payroll deduction and the government would match their contribution. Workers could then
invest this pot of money in the stock market. What’s ironic about this plan is that
it does nothing to address the alleged crisis in the Social Security system. But it does
address the deep desire of Wall Street brokers to get a massive new influx of commissions.
And it would also ease the way for cutting back Social Security in the years to come.
Some people have proposed shoring up Social Security by cutting back or even
eliminating rich people’s access to Social Security. At a time when the rich are
filthy rich, this does sound appetizing. But politically, it’s probably poison.
Because these days, any program that’s perceived as a poor people’s program is
likely to end up on the chopping block — just like Medicaid and welfare.
Some of our elected officials propose raising the eligibility age to get full Social
Security benefits as a way of keeping money in the system. The retirement age is already
slated to rise from 65 to 67 in the coming years, but they want to force us to work even
longer. Proponents of this idea think it’s only fair, since Americans are living
longer than they used to.
Anyone who can make this argument has probably never worked in a hospital, a refinery,
or on a railroad. No one should be forced to do this work at the age of 70! The average
black man can’t possibly like this idea, since in this country a black man born in
1950 was expected at birth to live only 59 years, on average: he’ll never see a dime
of Social Security money. Instead, we should be talking about lowering the retirement age
to match that in other industrialized countries — and to reflect our growing
productivity. (See "But
Other Countries Do Better.")
One plan by two leading Democrats, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York and Sen.
Bob Kerrey of Nebraska, would both increase the retirement age to 68 and reduce Social
Security’s cost-of-living adjustment by a percentage point. Dean Baker points out
that such a COLA cut would really add up for people who live into their 80s and 90s. By
the time someone reaches 85, they would see their annual benefit reduced by 19 percent.
That makes it hard to pay the rent.
There are more equitable ways to bring more money into the Social Security system. The
Labor Party and others advocate eliminating the cap on the payroll tax. But our main
message is this: When it comes to Social Security, our most popular and efficient social
program.... if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
|
