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James E Keenan's avatar

In The Deficit Myth, you point out that much of the fuss about Social Security (and Medicare) stems from the perception that the trust funds out of which Social Security and Medicare payments are made are "running dry." You also observe that while the two trust funds for Social Security and one of the two for Medicare have provisions to the effect that benefits payments can only be made when the funds have a positive balance, the second of the two Medicare funds has no such proviso, meaning that the government commits to making payments from that fund regardless of the balance in the trust fund. The trust funds for Social Security were not necessary for payment purposes; rather, they were part of FDR's strategy for building political support for the program.

That suggests that, nearly ninety years later, it's time to change the laws governing the first three trust funds and to simply guarantee payment of Social Security and Medicare payments on a "full faith and credit" basis. Do you know of anyone who has drawn up or introduced legislation to that end?

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Nancy Langwiser-kear's avatar

Private accounts. Just look at how poorly American fund retirement accounts now. Private account just mean giving financial institutions another way to get Americans to pay for the privilege of retirement security. America should understand that SS is a base amount to keep them out of poverty and that they need to save additional money if they want to have a comfortable retirement.

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