I could write a post about Social Security and convince most every American that the negative, misleading things they have heard and believe are true.
Just repeat something frequently, play on fears or political prejudices and the job is done.
You know Congress stole the trust money, it’s just IOUs, the wealthy don’t pay their fair share, benefits can’t be sustained, SS won’t be there for me or Americans paid for their benefits.
All not true by the way.
Or, you could go to the Social Security Trustee reports and learn the facts.
Here is a link to the latest report. All you have to do is read Section II The Overview
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
Hi Al, you might enjoy this link. The info there surprised me as well about how much tax rates have plummeted over the past 45 years. The stats are from the CBO office.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/statistics/historical-average-federal-tax-rates-all-households
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When I finished reading and got to the last sentence I thought; “oh really, that has little chance of happening.”. Yes, that would be a logical method of providing a workable solution, but our political class has not been known to be businesslike.
I do have issues with projections that go out to 2097 I believe. CBO, as an example, have 10-year projections of various proposals and legislation Congress is considering and so many times they are way off once we reach the end of the period. Projections are subject to many variables, but of course one needs to make these. Sort of like folks projecting retirement needs.
SS is a tough nut to crack as far as solvency. Once we hit the crisis stage action will follow–asking them to avoid a crisis and act soon has not worked well in the past for most issues but hope springs eternal.
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I agree with Al. Can’t believe I just wrote that LOL. But he is right. There is no incentive for members of Congress to vote against their interests in these cases until there is a true crisis. To fix that, you would have to actually change the American political system to have competitive general elections. But right now most members of Congress only have to care about primaries, so it caters to the extreme in of each party. The only way to change this is to make major reforms, like to eliminate gerrymandering, have open primaries, have proportional representation, etc, all of which go against current vested interests, so are unlikely to ever change. To just whine about Congress not doing the right thing is to ignore the fact that they are doing the exact logical thing for the system that they are in, just as you or I would do if we were in their shoes. The one major political change I see coming that might affect this dynamic is the current shift to economic populism by the Republican Party. I expect that there will be an eventual grassroots revolt in the party over the preference for cutting social benefits like medicare and social security in order to secure more tax cuts for the rich. It doesn’t fit with the changing demography of the party or growing anti-elite stance.
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Well, hope springs eternal for “G”–not sure all the changes he wishes to see are possible or even warranted–everyone wants competitive elections until it comes time to undue gerrymandering (as an example) which both parties engage in–a few years ago the former Attorney General under Obama headed a group to “reform” gerrymandering–sounded good until you learn they targeted red states.
Remember, 49% of us pay no federal income tax. The rich pay a very large % of their income in taxes and if one were to GOOGLE what the top 10% of earners pay in federal income tax you might be surprised by Treasury Dept. figures–if you add in state taxes you really see that some folks pay an inordinate %–everyone wants benefits and wants someone else to pay–“don’t tax you–don’t tax me–tax the guy behind the tree.”
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