Neighborhood Ministries

Now that we face the problem, we have to decide what to do about it. The Democrats feel we should tax the rich. That sounds good, they have lots of money. Income is taxed for Social Security at a certain percentage based on income  and there is currently a ceiling where income is no longer taxed. They propose to raise that limit so they can get more income, as well as raising taxes on income in general. The problem with raising the limit lies in the fact that very few make over the limit and those that do don’t make much over the limit. The amount raised would not be anywhere near enough to stabilize the fund. In addition, they want to raise benefits for Seniors which will further strain the fund, causing it to run out of funds even earlier than if nothing is done. While it sounds like they have good ideas to help, they are very short-sighted and the ideas only look good on paper. In fact, they will do more damage than good. It would result in the fund running out sooner than if nothing was done and hurt all those who depend on it. Republicans, on the other hand, are proposing to raise the age of retirement. That will hinder plans for those planning to retire at age 65, however many are healthy and could easily work another ten to twenty years, and it would not have to be very long. The last time they raised the age limit, they only raised it two years to age 67, but it bought us a lot more time because the most retirees are around age 65. The older people get, the more die so the number of retirees in the population declines as age increases. There are a lot of people aged 65 in the population but very few reach the age of 90 or 100. The result would be a lot more people working and fewer drawing benefits and the age increase would be so small, most people would not notice it. It would extend the fund and continue helping those who depend on it. For those who are not able to continue working until the new retirement age, there is Social Security  Disability which helps those who are currently not able to work until retirement age, so no one would really be hurt by it.

The biggest change was that Democrats saw the growing fund as a source of funds to develop new programs. The fund was growing rapidly because a lot of workers were paying in and very few were drawing on it, and  they only drew on it a short time. Democrats felt that the surplus funds could be used to fund other programs. Therefore they looted the Social Security fund to develop other Social services. As a result, the money was no longer drawing interest and was in fact not available for future payments. As a result, the sole source of income for the fund was the payments received from those who were currently working. That was not a problem since a large number of baby boomers were working and jobs were plentiful so there was plenty being paid in to cover the expenses of those few who were retired and drawing benefits. However, they were very short-sighted. Like many liberal thinkers, they judged things by appearances and did not consider other changes that were occurring. The baby boomers were going to get older and as they did, they would eventually retire. At the same time, the prosperity had led many women to go to work and as a result, they had fewer babies because having children would  hinder their ability to work. The result has been a large growth in the number retiring, and going from paying into the fund to drawing out of the fund, with very few children to grow up and replace them in the workforce. Previously, most people worked as long as possible and didn’t retire until they were no longer able to work. Most could not accumulate much in savings resulting in poor nutrition, nothing to occupy their time, and poor health care. As a result, most did not live long after retirement.  The prosperity brought better nutrition and more health care enabling workers to reach retirement in much better health. With Social Security to provide a basic income, many Seniors now retire around age 62-65 when they are still healthy and with Medicare to provide decent health care, many live a long time after retirement.  If they had not raided the fund and it had been allowed to gather interest, it might not have been a problem for a long time, however, as it is, the problem is facing us much sooner then it would have otherwise, so the Democrats have created the problem they are now warning us about.

President Biden and leading Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to destroy Social Security. That is important because Senior Citizens are making up an increasing portion of the population, particularly those of voting age. It is also important because Social Security makes up a large portion of the income for a large number of Seniors. If it fails, then a large portion of the population will be impoverished. Liberal politicians and the media have increasingly been pushing the narrative that Social Security will run out of money. Such scare tactics are designed to scare Seniors into voting in Democrats to save their income. However, allowing fear to drive people to rash decisions is not helpful. We need to look at the facts to help us make rational decisions. Social Security was designed to be a savings plan to help Seniors in their old age. It would involve taking out money from their employment during their working years and investing it so they would have an adequate income during their retirement years. That was smart thinking. However, since then, society has changed and  politicians have changed the program. Those changes have created the problems we have today. In the beginning, Seniors died shortly after retiring or were helped in other ways, either by their family, or by retirement homes and nursing homes. It was also felt that workers would also save toward their retirement to supplement their Social Security. At that time, Seniors made up a very small portion of  the population and received help for a short time. In contrast, the majority of the population was of working age and were paying into the fund. As a result, the fund grew rapidly. That money was invested and drawing income which further fueled the growth  of that fund. As designed, it looked like the fund would be adequately funded for the foreseeable future. However changes have occurred that threaten the fund.