"preposterous"As part of a long-winded screed against lots of things, George Will
writes: (emp add)
The nation now is 17 months into the demographic deluge that began in January 2008 when the leading edge of the wave of 78 million baby boomers began exercising the preposterous entitlement to collect Social Security at age 62, as most Social Security recipients do. In 1935, when Social Security was enacted, no one envisioned it supporting most retirees for a third of their adult lives.
Doesn't matter what George Will thinks. Doesn't matter what people were thinking in 1935. The fact is that the program changed to support early retirement and was funded through increased payroll taxes to make it happen (at least until 2041).
Is Will also upset at pension plans that offer early retirement at age 55? Perhaps he'd better get on the phone with IBM, HP, Citigroup, et al.
Social Security is an independent large-scale disability and retirement program. There's nothing Will can do about that unless he wants the government to default on bonds purchased by the Social Security Trust Fund.
posted by Quiddity at 6/11/2009 02:36:00 AM
The government is about to repudiate that debt by way of inflation.
The greatest President ever, and the greatest Fed Chief ever, worked together to raise social security taxes to assure the program was properly funded through the baby boomer spike and the increase in age expectancy.
Of course I am talking about Regean and Greenspan. This took place in the mid 80's. The government has since spent the surplus and filled the stocking with IOU's. That resulted in the lockbox debate of Bush/Gore that was forgotten after the election. Another thing that worked out well for us with Bush.
Of course as long as someone is paying the SStax, it can never "go broke." And yes anono, inflating our way out of this mess seems to be a big part of the game plan.
My god, yet another guy who thinks that US government Treasury bonds are somehow "just IOUs", as if they weren't considered one of the, if not THE, safest investment instruments in the world.
BTW, you forgot to mention Tip O'Neil's leading role in the Reagan-era Social Security changes, as well as Reagan's attempt to cut seniors' Social Security benefits.
