August 08, 2015
Of course it would, since deception is the only way to get large cuts in this incredibly popular program. This is why we find the Post applauding New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for his:
“cogent defense of his plan to trim old-age entitlement benefits for wealthy seniors, explaining that the system must be shored up for the poor.”
Of course what Christie said was far from cogent. Christie first totally misrepresented the program’s finances by saying that it held nothing by “IOUs.” Actually, the program holds more than $2.8 trillion of government bonds. Mr. Christie may call government bonds “IOUs” but that is not the common term for them. In any case, the financial markets consider government bonds to be a very valuable asset which is why they pay a low interest rate. Unless the U.S. government defaults on its debt, the program would be able to pay all scheduled benefits through 2033 with no changes whatsoever.
After that date it could pay more than 75 percent of scheduled benefits indefinitely. If we imposed the same sort of tax increases as President Reagan did in the 1980s it would also be sufficient to keep the program solvent indefinitely.
Christie’s proposal about taking away Social Security for people who earn above $200,000 a year was close to complete nonsense. There are very few people in this category. While this group does make lots of money, they do not collect much more Social Security than the rest of us. This is because the program has an income cap and a progressive payback structure.
In order to have any noticeable impact on the program’s finances it would be necessary to redefine “wealthy” to something like $40,000. This is likely Mr. Christie’s intention and the Post apparently wants to help him in that cause.
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