If it Ain't Broke, ...

Congress continues to quack about “fixing” Social Security. Most people who have studied this agree that it isn’t broken, i.e., doesn’t need “fixed”, but it could use some tweaking to keep it solvent well into the latter part of this century. So everything that they are proposing right now is really political posturing and nothing more.

The latest is the idea that they raise the minimum retirement age, which is currently set at 62. This doesn’t sound like a drastic measure until you consider that 70% of Social Security recipients opt to begin receiving benefits at 62. It is believed that the majority of these people either are on the lower end of the socio-economic ladder and need the money or they have worked in manual labor jobs which have reduced their life expectancy. In both cases these are not society’s upper echelon, you know, those who popped the champagne bottles when the Bush tax cuts were extended.

So the bottom line on this proposal is “let’s stick it to the poor while the fat cats sit back and cash their checks, and oh, by the way, they will continue to send us contributions.”

If they really wanted to do something it would be to take steps to replenish the Social Security trust fund and make the rich pay their fair share, i.e., pay the 6+% on all of their earnings, not just the first $106k. While they are at it how about introducing means testing? Do Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Ross Perot, Jack Welch, etc., really need to receive a Social Security check?