Social Security is not being protected.

At least no tax for tips and no tax for overtime is only Federal Income Tax – not FICA and FICA-Med. So, those Social Security and Medicare taxes keep coming in. And, at least no tax for tips and no tax for overtime benefits people who are paying the applicable Social Security and Medicare taxes.

Let’s see. The last thing Biden did on Social Security was the so-called Social Security Fairness Act. There, he decided to increase Social Security benefits for state and local public employees who DID NOT pay FICA taxes.

YES, INCREASE THE BENEFITS FOR PEOPLE WHO DID NOT PAY SOCIAL SECURITY TAXES.

One person with whom I am very familiar, who never had 40 quarters of coverage, saw their Social Security benefit increase BY $6,500 a year.

The CBO estimates the elimination of GPO and WEP offsets/reductions would remove over $200 Billion from the Social Security trust fund over the next ten years, and probably a Trillion indefinitely.

Like the Democrats give a care about Social Security trust fund solvency. No more so than the Republicans cared.

Let’s see? Who was the last guy to shore up Social Security finances – why none other than Ronald Reagan, Republican, in 1983. What’s the track record since then?

•         November 5th, 1993: President Bill Clinton, by Executive Order #12878, created the Bipartisan Commission on Entitlement Reform (the Danforth Commission) to evaluate entitlement programs – specifically Social Security and Medicare.  The Commission never reached consensus and couldn’t get all members to agree on even an Interim Report.  Subsets of the commission members made their own proposals.  None gained any traction, nor action. See:  http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=61571 

•         February 5, 2005: President George W. Bush made a reform recommendation to add personal accounts and change the COLA.  These proposals triggered great criticism, and no action was taken. The Bush Administration was accused of sending grandma in her wheelchair over the cliff. See:  https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/social-security/    See also:  https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2005/04/200504…

•         April 27, 2010: The bipartisan National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform (often called Simpson-Bowles) met to recommend fiscal reform, including recommendations to reform Social Security. Despite widespread popular support, the report failed to get enough support to send it to Congress for approval.

•         June 1, 2016: President Barack Obama, nearing the end of this second term, reminded us that Social Security’s finances needed strengthening. “We should be strengthening Social Security… it’s time we finally made Social Security more generous and increased its benefits so that today’s retirees and future generations get the dignified retirement that they’ve earned.”  No proposal was ever made.  At least President Obama didn’t make recommendations to increase benefits a la Joe Biden as a means of buying votes. See:  https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2016/06/01/remarks… 

•         An October 17, 2017 GAO report – GAO-18-111SP, “The Nation’s Retirement System:  A Comprehensive Re-evaluation Is Needed to Better Promote Future Retirement Security” https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/687797.pdf echoes President Obama: “… (we) better ensure a secure and adequate retirement, with dignity, for all.”  But, it offers no plan of action other than another committee. And, more importantly, it doesn’t reconfirm all of the progress the private sector has made, the fact that we now have 110+MM participants in employer-sponsored, individual account retirement savings plans, nor the $44 Trillion in retirement assets, where 74% of American households have some retirement savings. Finally, the GAO report ignores the gaping holes in Social Security and Medicare trust funding.

So, here we are today.

Again, I’ve shared how I would “fix” the Social Security funding issue, today and indefinitely, with first identifying the funding everyone (all lives in being) should have made had we fully funded/made Social Security sustainable, then give each American a choice on how to fill the funding gap, either a benefit cut or an increase in taxes or a combination of the two, loading the choices for antiselection, with annual self-correcting price tags, freezing the plan design into a contract among American citizens. That would have everyone who is in the system “correct” for past underfunding – leaving the existing Socialization (progressive formula, etc.) unaffected.

And, I know the best option for the idiot ass Trump – political animal that he is. Wait until the time to approve the 2028-2029 federal budget, once the D’s and the R’s have their nominees for the November 2028 election. Then Trump would refuse to sign into law the federal budget, or sign a continuing resolution, until Congress agrees to increase FICA taxes from 12.4% to 16.4%, allocated 6.2% to workers, 10.2% to employers. The same legislation would also cap FICA Wages at $100,000 (for taxes and benefits) starting in 2029. So, the 4% tax increase is one workers won’t see, and the $100,000 cap on FICA wages is a phased in benefit cut that only affects higher earners.

Go ahead, take my two recommendations, one that is actuarially sound, the other politically savvy, and send them to YOUR congressman and senators. I’ll match mine up against theirs anyday.

But, shut up in your criticism of the idiot ass Trump when it comes to Social Security funding. He’s no worse than the folks who preceeded him, including Trump 1.

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