Bankruptcy BS: The SS & Medicare canard

From Think Progress, more on what we’ll call the big lie on Social Security. In a piece on the “24 myths” told by Paul Ryan in last night’s debate, it addressed the Medicare and Social Security question:

“Medicare and Social Security are going bankrupt. These are indisputable facts.” [T]he possibility of Medicare going bankrupt is — and historically has been — greatly exaggerated. In fact, if no changes are made, Medicare would still be able to meet 88 percent of its obligations in 2085. Social Security is fully funded for another two decades and could pay 75 percent of its benefits thereafter. There is also an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits.

And it links back to a simple fix that I’ve been advocating, one that will not hurt current or future retirees:

They also ignore an easy way to ensure the program’s long-term solvency without large changes or cuts to benefits. Payroll taxes that finance Social Security are only collected on income up to a certain level ($110,100 in 2012), creating a regressive system that puts an undue burden on low- and middle-income workers. Eliminating that cap would allow Social Security to pay full benefits for the next 75 years, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

So, to reiterate my tweet from last night:

Medicare and SS are not going bankrupt. That is Washington BS.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.
Unknown's avatar

Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

One thought on “Bankruptcy BS: The SS & Medicare canard”

  1. Using the same so called \”logic\” of the Social Security and Medicare haters, aren't the CIA, FBI, NSA and the whole military going bankrupt and are unsupportable, there's just no money there, blah, blah, blah. Oh wait, there's no money there for actual social programs that help the non-millionaires and non-billionaires. In 1978, George Bush told the TEXAS OBSERVER that Social Security would go bust, go bankrupt in 10 years. Baloney, he lied then and he lied in 2005 when he tried to privatize SS. He lied about the SS trust fund being just a bunch of worthless IOUs. The trust fund is worth $2.7 trillion and it's earning interest and it's made up of special issue treasury bonds backed by the full fatih and credit of the USA. Without Medicare, we would have about another 45 million uninsured added to the already 50 million uninsured.

    Reply

Leave a comment