Issue:
The most successful government program of all time, Social Security was designed to make sure Americans could have a secure retirement and stay out of poverty. It has done that - very well in fact. But the program is facing some funding problems in the mid-term future. We have known about them for a long time, but solutions to fixing the problem are controversial, especially since many people revere Social Security. They do not call it the ‘third rail’ of politics for nothing.
A few years after the Baby Boomers start retiring, the money coming in to Social Security will not match the payments going out. If we privatize SS, there will be even less money coming into to the system, making the deficit worse. Since Boomers and those retiring right after them will not have privatized accounts, only after the majority of Boomers die will the system become solvent again. So the Republican privatization plan does nothing to solve the Boomer crunch, and actually make the situation worse.
To make matters worse, privatization does not fulfill the core purpose of SS: securing people’s retirement. There is nothing to keep you from losing your Social Security retirement if you make bad investments under a privatized system. Thus, there is nothing secure about privatized Social Security. The need for a guaranteed retirement system was made clear during the Great Depression, and that need will never go away.
Republicans are just using the looming Social Security deficit as an excuse to destroy one of the last vestiges of FDR’s New Deal, and create a windfall for their Wall Street contributors. But SS is facing a deficit; how do we keep it solvent?
Policy:
1) Do not use the current SS surplus to pay for anything else, including reducing the deficit.
2) You do not pay Social Security tax on any income over $120,000. Eliminate this cap. Billions more will be raised, almost single handedly putting the program in the black, even if you lower the Social Security tax rate on any income over $120,000.
3) People who retire and still make significant money should not get SS. Once their income drops below a certain level, they can get it. This can be a sliding scale, so if you gradually make more in retirement income, your SS paycheck gets gradually smaller.
4) Increase the retirement age to 68 over the next decade, and then gradually increase it as people live longer.
5) Cut the deficit and get government spending into surplus. If SS does start running a deficit, the surplus can help pay for it, and will make it easier to borrow money if we need to pay for SS deficit.
6) We need more workers to pay for the Boomers. Creating a guest worker program for our millions of illegal immigrants, ultimately making them citizens, is the fastest and easiest way to do this, although not the only way.
Messaging:
Against privatization
1) Transfers your hard earned retirement to the rich.
2) Less security, less retirement
3) Republican Wall St. contributors gain, you lose
4) Makes the future Social Security deficit worse
5) Best gov’t program ever. A few tweaks and it can be even better.
For progressive solutions
1) If the wealthy pay their fair share, Social Security will be profitable. Lift the cap.
2) It is our moral duty to keep seniors secure and out of poverty.
3) There is no substitute for safety and security.
4) If we cut the deficit now, we can easily save Social Security later.
5) The best solution: more workers means more money for Social Security.