As I have previously written, the 2-percentage point payroll tax deduction is a bad idea. The current reduction expires March 1, but it appears that enough Congree members support extending it through the rest of the year. It is a shame that despite warnings from the annual Social Security Trustees’ reports, even those who support entitlement [...]
I have usually never met a tax cut I didn’t like. But the House passed a bill Tuesday (yet to be voted on by the Senate) extending the reduction in the employee’s portion of the payroll tax (set to expire the end of December), which since 2010 has been 4.2 percent instead of the usual [...]
The latest Census data show that more people are living to age 90, according to Healthday. In fact the 90-and-beyond crowd has tripled since 1980, to 1.9 million people today. Most are women (75 percent), and many live alone but are not necessarily independent and healthy. The average income for people aged 90 and older [...]
Bobby: “Psssst. Don’t tell anyone. It’s our secret! There’s an elephant in the living room, but we’re pretending it’s not really there and it’s not really an elephant.” Billy: “But it smells and it’s enormous!” Bobby: “Just ignore it. Maybe it will go away.” (Source: Diane Hunter, “Elephant in the Living Room, Acknowledging Alcoholism Can [...]
Okay, let me get this straight: President Obama announced today that if a deal on the debt ceiling is not reached he cannot guarantee that seniors’ Social Security checks will go out on August 3. Thus, in the world of political posturing, some 70 million Social Security and Veterans benefit checks that go out would be [...]
In today’s Wall Street Journal, Martin Feldstein makes the argument for private accounts as an alternative to Social Security. I enjoy reading articles like Feldstein’s because they use simple math to compare the rate of return on Social Security benefits to the rate of return on rather conservative market investments. And the math doesn’t lie. For [...]
Having examined the sad state of entitlement programs in the United States for years now, I read a rather disturbing article about Social Security’s Disability Insurance (SSDI) program. SSDI provides monthly payments to those who become physically or mentally disabled and are no longer able to work. A portion of workers’ payroll taxes is used [...]
Some preliminary recommendations from the White House Debt Commission were released. (See NYT article, “Panel Seeks Social Security Cuts and Higher Taxes“). While these recommendations are yet to be negotiated among commission members for release in a final report, they at least represent a willingness of members to consider the elephant in the living room: [...]
For the second consecutive year, seniors will not get a cost of living adjustment in their Social Security checks for 2011 [see USA Today, “No Social Security Benefits Boost Expected for 2011“). This will certainly become an election year issue, with the parties accusing each other of not caring about the welfare of seniors.
What a sad time in California legislative history. The opportunity to pass tough but meaningful pension reform has resulted in the passage of a bill akin to throwing a bucket of water on a blazing inferno. (See Barbara Hollingsworth, “California Rejects Even Modest Pension Reform,”)