If everything is on the Table, if No cows can claim to be "sacred", in this new age of "not paying our bills"
-- well shouldn't THIS sacred cow, be right there, a centerpiece, of this "grand" discussion grab-bag, too?
Seems only fair. Assuming "fairness" still matters ...
Budget Baloney (1): Why Social Security Isn’t a Problem for 26 Years, and the Best Way to Fix It Permanently
Robert Reich -- Feb 16, 2011
[...]
Social Security isn’t responsible for the federal deficit. Just the opposite. Until last year Social Security took in more payroll taxes than it paid out in benefits. It lent the surpluses to the rest of the government.
[...]
But why should there even be a problem 26 years from now? Back in 1983, Alan Greenspan’s Social Security commission was supposed to have fixed the system for good -- by gradually increasing payroll taxes and raising the retirement age. (Early boomers like me can start collecting full benefits at age 66; late boomers born after 1960 will have to wait until they’re 67.)
[...]
So what did Greenspan’s commission fail to see coming?
Inequality.
Remember, the Social Security payroll tax applies only to earnings up to a certain ceiling. (That ceiling is now $106,800.) The ceiling rises every year according to a formula roughly matching inflation.
[...]
If we want to go back to 90 percent, the ceiling on income subject to the Social Security tax would need to be raised to $180,000.
Presto. Social Security’s long-term (beyond 26 years from now) problem would be solved.
So there’s no reason even to consider reducing Social Security benefits or raising the age of eligibility.
Raise the Social Security Payroll Tax Ceiling (adjust its CPI formula) -- and the decades-out Problem's Solved!
That's what's called Sharing the Pain.
That's what's called Economic Equality. That would be Fair.
Hmmm ... seems like someone used to see the common sense practicality of this once non-sacred, Revenue Option, too?
I wonder what happened, to those "grand" Ideals, of election lore?
How did this simple Revenue option go from being "pedestrian" to the ranks of "the untouchables" ?
Tax Foundation Study: Obama Plan to Lift Social Security Wage Tax Ceiling Would Hit High-Income States
Tax Foundation -- June 3, 2008
[...]
In response to Obama's editorial in the Quad City Times last September suggesting the payroll tax ceiling be repealed, critics asked how that fits with his promise not to raise taxes on anyone who makes less than $200,000 or $250,000 (Obama has cited both figures). Obama's response, from his Web site, is, "We may want to include a ‘donut hole' to ensure that lifting the payroll tax cap does not ensnare any middle class Americans."
The "donut hole" idea is that wages up to the ceiling would be taxed as usual, followed by a non-taxable amount up to $200,000 or $250,000, and then all wages above that would be taxed.
[Citizen Rant begins ...]
Those Washington DC Millionaires (aka Congress) are now debating the finer details of a "Grand Bargain" that is to be had by all. Well "debating" might be a stretch -- "foisting it" may be a better word for it. Crass Opportunism is another.
And what a Grand Bargain it is, they are foisting ...
Just throw in a Bridge in Brooklyn,
some prime swamp land in Florida,
some beach front property in Japan;
Just stay away from those "plush ropes" over there -- the Real Assets of the Rich and Powerful;
Any Revenue Increases, like on the Payroll Tax Ceiling, are their sacred cows -- those shall now, and always remain, sacred. Untouchable. Unmentioned.
Afterall those Millionaires, they are the Job Creators, in some mythical American Dream. That used to exist here.
Getting a Grand Deal for themselves is Job One. Just ask Grover. Just ask Americans for Prosperity. Just watch the Kochs.
Question: If this were indeed a "Fair Deal" ... truly a "Grand Bargain" ...
Wouldn't Raising the Payroll Tax Ceiling, wouldn't it be included in the Mix too?
It's the obvious simple -- and equitable -- solution to the Social Security draw-down problem -- slated to occur Decades from now.
No, instead we get "Bridges to Nowhere" ... CPI-Tweaks to our Benefits, built on foundations of sands ... the sands of insecurity.
Bridges to Nowhere ... nowhere but more pain, for more seniors;
and more peasant cows to be slain on the rhetorical sands of, "Oh well -- they'll get by."
The unemployed, the seniors are a "resourceful bunch", we saw that back in the 30's last century, didn't we? They'll do just anything to survive -- right up until they -- Don't.
Don't Survive that is. And that's One Grand Bargain for the Powers that Be, apparently. Their cows have escaped unscathed. Their Pain has remained protected, behind those Plush Ropes ...
Payroll Tax Ceiling, huh what's that? Speak the grand language, the Job Creators understand, please! (That's if you want to keep yours, just be quiet, and go along with the Gang.)
[end of Citizen Rant ...]