Fact & Fiction on Social Security

Linking the Cost of Living Adjustments (cola) for recipients to the Consumer Price Index is a good solution: Tying cola to the CPI would be a major benefit cut to Social Security recipients and it would get bigger over time. Furthermore, despite Republican claims that their proposals don’t affect current recipients, the cola-CPI change would affect everyone. As it currently exists — even though it hasn’t been applied for two years — the cola is not enough to account for increasing health care costs. If the Republicans proposed Medicare changes are passed, the increase in costs for seniors will consume their entire Social Security check.

Raising the retirement age is a good solution: Raising the retirement age would effectively work out to a 20% cut for retirees. This would disproportionately harm workers in the lower half of the earnings spectrum. These workers have not seen the same increase in life expectancy as the overall population and some groups have seen life expectancy declines, meaning an even bigger benefit cut for those workers. People who work in physically demanding jobs (nearly half of workers over 58) will find it difficult or impossible to extend their careers until they reach 69. Age discrimination also makes it harder for older workers to find jobs.

Means testing Social Security is a good solution: Only 2% of Social Security benefits go to people with an income over $100,000 or more a year, so cutting benefits for them would make little difference in the funding for the program. If the means test were set at a lower level, it would have to have a negative impact on middle class recipients, not just the wealthy.

Social Security is a wasteful program: Less than 1% of program costs go to administrative costs. Social Security is the largest and most successful program in terms of providing aid to the disabled, children, women, veterans and other groups in society. These groups are served very well by Social Security and any cuts to the program will increase poverty and other associated problems for these groups. This is while offering recipients an average of $13-$14,000 per year, making it one of the least generous retirement programs in the world. The program lifts 20 million Americans out of poverty.

Simply put, the program works and works well and cutting it in the name of a fake crisis in order to give tax cuts to the wealthy and take benefits away from our neediest citizens is one of the worst things being discussed in politics in the U.S. right now.

To find sources on the above facts and learn more, go to Strengthen Social Security.

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