If you read my last diary entry, it will be no secret that I don't care for NPR. (If you want to know why, read the diary.)
In any event, here is another glaring ommission from them that I heard tonight with respect to their "special report" on Social Security Reform.
First, while being fair in talking about how SS will not START running out of money until 2042, nowhere did its report mention that the scheme to have "private" accounts is just basically a pay off to Wall Street lobbyists. Whether or not it agreed with this position, it didn't even mention that there are critics of Bush's scheme who have been very vocal about saying this.
But even more glaring, was the ommission with respect to proposed remedies for "fixing" the system.
That is, if we want to fund SS for the next seventy-five years instead of merely the next thirty-eight, NPR kept talking about the following options:
1. Raising the payroll tax in terms of a percentage increase in the taxation rate per person.
2 Requiring people to work a couple of years longer.
3. Cutting benefits.
What I found interesting is that NPR did not mention the following simple solution:
Currently, only income up to $90,000 a year is taxed for SS purposes. All income earned OVER that amount is not subject to SS taxes. Thus, for example I make $200,000 a year, I only pay SS tax on the first $90,000 of that. The rest I get to keep free of any SS taxation.
(Clearly, it should be obvious that even SS is a largely regressive scheme in view of the existence of this cieling.)
So, why did NPR not mention the option of raising the SS taxation cieling from $90,000, to $100,000 or even higher?
Why was this option not even discussed?