The Problem

According to Washington, there are two problems associated with the financial health of the Social Security program:

1. Current benefit payments now exceed current employment tax receipts; and

2. Long-term 75 year projections indicate that Social Security will exhaust all of its reserves by the year 2036 and officially be bankrupt.

Washington would have us believe that these problems exist and will continue to get worse as a result of:

• An aging population…people are living longer and the baby boom generation has just begun entering retirement status.

To cure these problems our elected officials in Washington say it is necessary to:

• Raise employment taxes…increase not only the rate at which taxes are levied, but also the amount of income subject to taxation; and/or
• Reduce Social Security benefit payments… this would be accomplished by raising the age that full benefits become available, raise the age any retirement benefits become available and reduce the amount of both the benefits to be paid and either cap the cost of living adjustment (COLA) rates or modify the method used to calculate them; and/or
• Privatize the system… phase in limited self-directed investment accounts similar to those found in employer sponsored 401K plans, eventually replacing the current system with self-directed accounts under management by contracted private money management firms.

I say that doing any of these actions will only exacerbate the problems of Social Security, not fix them! If raising taxes or reducing benefits was a solution we would not be having the problems we have; those actions have been taken numerous times over the last 50 years and still these problems remain.

And, privatizing the system? That’s just INSANE! The whole concept of Social Security was to provide a supplemental income to retired and disabled workers that they could depend on. One that was guaranteed to be there when they needed it and the amount of which was fixed. It was never intended to be the sole source of retirement income, just a supplement to insure that a retired or disable worker would have some to help meet their monetary needs.

The very existence of Social Security over the last 70 years has enabled millions of American workers to retire more comfortably; and in many instances even retire at all.
It also has enabled workers to take investment risks with their private savings that otherwise would not have been prudent.

Social Security is not the problem…
it’s the solution to the problem!

The financial shortfalls of the Social Security program are nothing more than a symptom of an ailing economy. Too many people are out of work and too many others are under-employed. For far to long now America has been exporting its jobs overseas. Most of our factories have closed…the companies who owned them have either closed with them or opened new factories in other countries like Mexico, India, Taiwan and China where labor is cheaper, where EPA and OSHA laws do not exist or are not enforced.

But its not just the factory jobs that have been disappearing, its service sector jobs and high paying research and development jobs. And, along with these jobs America is exporting its wealth!

The only thing that we need to fix Social Security is a healthy, vibrant, growing economy… and ironically, Social Security may just hold the key to restoring our economy and bringing back jobs to America.

It worked before, it will work again. Social Security was created to be part of the solution to the worst economic problem our country has ever faced… The Great Depression.

Washington sees Social Security as the glass half empty, I see it as the glass half full!

Let’s change Washington’s perspective… please read Saving Social Security – A Commonsense Approach and join me in this quest to save this vital program; not just for ourselves, but for all future generations of American workers.