Rowhouse Logic - Breathtaking Inanity

According to this Washington Post \ ABC News poll, 74% of those polled believe that the Social Security program is in crisis or has major problems. Given that level of concern, it will clearly be difficulty to convince a sizable portion of the population that there is, in fact, no crisis. As has been pointed out in numerous places recently, most of us have been told for so long that insolvency is looming that even a clear recitation of the facts is greeted with skepticism. For that reason I’m doubtful that simply proclaiming that there is no Social Security crisis and pressuring wavering Democrats will stave off the President’s attempt destroy the program.

I think that in order to be successful we do need to acknowledge a crisis in the Social Security program and start hammering away at it, just not the crisis Mr. Bush has in mind. The average monthly Social Security payout at $922 is woefully inadequate. That’s the crisis. I think that figure needs to be doubled, at the very least, in order to afford retirees even a modest standard of living in most of our large metropolitan areas.

The obvious question is how we would pay for this. I think the answer is simple, although it would be highly unpopular in some quarters. Repeal the Social Security tax cap, which currently stands at $87,000, and make all income taxable. Additionally, increasing the 12.4% Social Security payroll tax to a more significant percentage for earned income over $250,000 would provide a nice cushion. This would obviously constitute a significant change in the very nature of the Social Security program, but would represent social progress in lifting many of America’s elderly out of poverty or near poverty.

Would something like that ever get passed into law? Of course not. Is it even a good idea? I’m not convinced. The point is this; the problem with the current strategy (if there is one) is that it involves overcoming serious misconceptions in order to defend the status quo. This administration has proven itself adept at kicking the ball forwards, or backwards as the case may be, and letting others run and catch it. They are doing it again and, in this case, the public is already primed to hear solutions to a perceived crisis. If Social Security is to be saved a mere defense of the status quo will not be enough. I believe the ball needs to be kicked in another, more progressive direction.

People like ideas, even bad ones.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 22nd, 2004 at 12:50 pm and is filed under Blather. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.