Whatever happened to the Social Security debate?
This time last year there was a crisis brewing in this country. No, it wasn't Iraq. It was the imminent demise of Social Security.
Yes, that's right. Social Security was on the verge of bankruptcy. The spigot was running dry for our seniors. The country was going broke.
And one year later? Hardly a peep.
What happened?
The President's proposed Social Security reform floundered on the rocks of privatization — and for good reason. While Social Security as it works now is hardly a cure-all for the nation's elderly, at least for the beneficiary it's secure, relatively simple, and regular — three positives that many of us prize, elderly or not.
Life is complicated enough without another government program to confuse us. That's why the President's Medicare drug benefit legislation has received such mixed reviews. Why can't receiving the medications one needs be as simple as going to the post office and mailing a letter to anywhere in the country for 39 cents?
No, the Medicare drug benefit has to be constructed along the lines of the federal income tax — a hodge-podge of give here and take there that benefits no one except the accountants and those for whom the legislation is written. In the case of Medicare Part D, the real winners are the drug companies whose government-granted monopolies (patents) are made even more profitable without any government oversight or price control. Go figure.
As for Social Security privatization, the public fortunately sees the ruse for what it is: A way for a few people to get rich and for the rest of us to be played as suckers under the clarion call for "free market capitalism". (There is no such thing, by the way, but we will save that discussion for a later article.)
Yes, Social Security needs to be made solvent. This can easily be accomplished by applying the Social Security tax to all income, not just for $94,200 per year or less (in 2006).
Retirement programs in the private sector are rapidly being converted to investment based plans and away from guaranteed benefit plans. These give us enough risk. At least one guaranteed benefit plan should be left in place for Americans to count on — and that's what Social Security is for.
LP
Yes, that's right. Social Security was on the verge of bankruptcy. The spigot was running dry for our seniors. The country was going broke.
And one year later? Hardly a peep.
What happened?
The President's proposed Social Security reform floundered on the rocks of privatization — and for good reason. While Social Security as it works now is hardly a cure-all for the nation's elderly, at least for the beneficiary it's secure, relatively simple, and regular — three positives that many of us prize, elderly or not.
Life is complicated enough without another government program to confuse us. That's why the President's Medicare drug benefit legislation has received such mixed reviews. Why can't receiving the medications one needs be as simple as going to the post office and mailing a letter to anywhere in the country for 39 cents?
No, the Medicare drug benefit has to be constructed along the lines of the federal income tax — a hodge-podge of give here and take there that benefits no one except the accountants and those for whom the legislation is written. In the case of Medicare Part D, the real winners are the drug companies whose government-granted monopolies (patents) are made even more profitable without any government oversight or price control. Go figure.
As for Social Security privatization, the public fortunately sees the ruse for what it is: A way for a few people to get rich and for the rest of us to be played as suckers under the clarion call for "free market capitalism". (There is no such thing, by the way, but we will save that discussion for a later article.)
Yes, Social Security needs to be made solvent. This can easily be accomplished by applying the Social Security tax to all income, not just for $94,200 per year or less (in 2006).
Retirement programs in the private sector are rapidly being converted to investment based plans and away from guaranteed benefit plans. These give us enough risk. At least one guaranteed benefit plan should be left in place for Americans to count on — and that's what Social Security is for.
LP
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