by Jonathan Farrell
The gloomy forecast reaching the media lately is that by the year 2037 Social Security will run out of money. Yet groups like the Gray Panthers who made protest outside the New Federal Building on Mission at 7th Street in San Francisco on Aug. 14th say Social Security is not going broke.
Dozens from various groups like SEIU Local 721, SF Central Labor Council and others gathered that Saturday morning to let the public know Social Security is doing well. As the longstanding government benefit program celebrates its 75th anniversary this month, they want people to know that the information the press has been given is inaccurate and misleading.
Current media blitz reports that the Baby boomer generation as they retire will bankrupt the funds. And, that by 2037 Social Security will be struggling to pay out benefits.
This is misleading “Social Security will be solvent for a-very long time, said Paul Van de Water from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Van de Water worked for Social Security. He now specializes in Medicare, Social Security, and health coverage issues.
He explained the missing details. “Social Security will not be able to pay out 100 percent of promised benefits by 2037, that’s if Congress was not to do anything to remedy the situation.” Yet still by that time benefi ts will continue, contrary to the headlines.
He and other analyst experts such as Eric Kingson and Alex Lawson say that with the over 2 trillion in a trust fund that Social Security holds the Social Security Administration has the funds to pay benefi ts. By 2037 benefits will still be paid. Yet, only if nothing is done by that time benefi ts would be reduced by 20 to 30 percent. This is where the information got mixed up.
Kingson and Lawson are among those groups trying to alert the public that the news they are hearing about Social Security is not all bad news. “In fact, Social Security is functioning extremely well, it is not broke,” said Lawson. But they warn that greedy powers are at work to alter or perhaps raid Social Security as a means to address defi cit woes.
Founded in 1935 by President FDR and his cabinet Social Security was designed to help the American people stay out of poverty. Social Security was and is one of the best retirement benefi t programs in US history. Even as this economic recession has a fl uctuating income revenue, Social Security is secure.
Analysts and SSA advocates say there are simple ways for the predicted short-fall to be addressed such as raising the earning cap. A percentage of the population is in an earning bracket where they do not pay Social Security taxes. Perhaps it’s time to include those high-earners too?
By law, SSA is not allowed to go into debt. In fact, some budget analysts point out that SSA has had surplus funds which it then reinvests. That all adds to the 2 trillion trust fund which incidentally is expected to reach over $4 trillion by 2037. For more info about the facts of Social Security’s stability visit: http://socialsecurityworks. org
