In
2010, the Social Security Trustees Report said Social Security would be
able to fulfill all current obligations until 2036. In 2011, that
estimate was bumped to 2035, and this year it was changed
to 2033. Clearly, the program must be reformed, yet many Washington
politicians think like Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who said
in January 2011 that "Social Security is a program that works and is
fully funded for the next 40 years" and that "the arithmetic on Social
Security works."
Any politician who thinks Social Security "works" for the American people is either dishonest or not paying attention to the facts. This was starkly outlined recently by Charles Blahous, a trustee for Medicare and Social Security. In a paper published through George Mason University's Mercatus Center, Blahous explained the bleak situation Social Security finds itself in. From the paper:
Any politician who thinks Social Security "works" for the American people is either dishonest or not paying attention to the facts. This was starkly outlined recently by Charles Blahous, a trustee for Medicare and Social Security. In a paper published through George Mason University's Mercatus Center, Blahous explained the bleak situation Social Security finds itself in. From the paper:
Social Security's future, at least in the form it has existed dating back to FDR, is now greatly imperiled. The last few years of legislative neglect ... have drastically harmed the program's future financial prospects. Individuals now planning their financial futures ... should be pricing in a substantial risk that the federal government will not be able to maintain Social Security as a self-financing, stand-alone program over the long term. If Social Security financing corrections are not enacted in 2013, or at the very latest by 2015, it becomes fairly likely that they will not be enacted at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment