The Future of Social Security

To our many readers, let me take a moment and wish you all my very best wishes for the upcoming holidays and the new year. We have a lot to be thankful for and a lot of work to accomplish to make the lives of area seniors and caregivers better in 2005. My ongoing new year’s resolution to you is that MVES will continue to do our very best to make quality community care the care of first resort, not last resort.

We selected our President a few weeks ago. As I watched election night television coverage, I saw the blue states and red states of the Electoral College map unfold. I think that most Americans, including myself, were glad that we had an election outcome by the middle of the next day.

While the President won a majority, I question whether the public voted for a fundamental change in the nation’s social insurance programs. I am referring specifically to the Social Security program. The newly re-elected President Bush, outlining his top priorities for legislative action, stated that he planned to use his “political capital” to further his legislative agenda—an agenda that has Social Security high on the list.

Spending some of his political capital, the President intends on changing the way the Social Security system is funded to allow/encourage younger people to invest in personal savings accounts, consequently diverting some of their Social Security payroll taxes away from the Social Security trust fund. The net effect of this would be less revenue deposited and invested in the trust fund at the very time expenses are predicted to rise with the coming retirement of the baby boom generation.

I do not pretend to be an economist but I do know a little bit about balancing a budget. It strikes me as odd that the solution to reducing a future deficit is to save less and spend more. If you took that approach at home or in a business, you would reduce the amount of money (revenue) that you saved for the future even as you knew you would be going deeper into debt. Most people would consider that approach irresponsible at a minimum. In business, if you took that approach, you would likely be held liable for incurring debt with the knowledge that that you would be unable to repay that debt.

Of particular interest is that the President does not seem to be offering ideas to cut expenses that would offset the cuts in revenue to the trust fund. Maybe those ideas will surface later. However, government can and often does act differently than you or me. For one thing, the federal government has the power to print money; it’s called deficit spending. Maybe President Bush or future Presidents and Congress will decide to use general tax revenue to support the Social Security trust fund in order to avoid benefit cuts. Maybe not. Nevertheless, we should not have to hope for a future bailout. We should expect our leaders to fix known problems now with real, achievable solutions.

As a future beneficiary who has paid into the Social Security trust fund for some 35 years and hopes to continue my contributions for at least another 15-20 years, I expect that the government will keep its word to me and all Americans to make good on past and current promises. Speaking only for myself, I would be willing to contribute more (increase my payroll deduction) to the trust fund if needed and would be willing to work a little longer if that would help to make sure that the trust fund was solvent for me, my contemporaries, and my children. I am willing to do my part. I am not willing to break the social contract that my government has had with my grandparents, parents, me, and now my children.

I am fully in favor of saving for my future and take that individual responsibility seriously. I take advantage of personal retirement savings programs, often called 401-K, 403-B, or IRAs, to supplement my future Social Security benefits. Maybe I should save more, but I am not in favor of reducing my contributions to the Social Security system that provides a basic, guaranteed benefit to the vast majority of older and disabled Americans. I am fortunate that I can save a few dollars beyond my Social Security payroll deduction. For millions of Americans, Social Security will be their only form of retirement benefits. I implore our leaders to not put their economic well being or mine at greater risk.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are three of the greatest American success stories of the 20th century. Sure, they need to be updated and refined in the 21st century. Let’s do the right thing for all Americans concerning Social Security. Let’s begin the debate to find the right solution that will ensure the solvency of the Social Security trust fund for years to come.