"There are essentially two ways to address this inevitable financial crisis. First, government could increase payroll taxes.... Second, the government could simply reduce the benefits...."
Of course, there are MANY MANY MORE ways then just 'two' to address the imbalance.
If you are committed to using actuarial principals there are only two ways to balance an equation. Either you increase the lesser, or decrease the greater.
Assume you have tank of water with an impermeable separate, and they have different levels of water. If you wish to achieve equilibrium you can reduce water from one side, add water to the other, or remove the separator and allow them to reach equilibrium. You can say they are many more ways, like adding rocks to the lower side, but that is not part of the Social Security equation.
You can either increase taxes or decrease benefits. Increasing the retirement age more rapidly is a method of decreasing benefits.
The Death Tax is immoral and must be abolished completely. There is nothing else to say about the death tax.
Social Security is going to be broke by 2017, it will be bankrupt by 2042. We can choose to fix it, or we can debate about the best way to fix it. The best strategy is to start fixing it today, and then try to improve the fix later.
The power of personal investing is awesome. I use it for my benefit. I wish every American could be invested. Using Social Security tax for unrelated budgetary prerogatives is immoral. Corporate CEOs would be jailed for doing what the government does. Personal accounts are one neat feature of President Bush's plan. We need to endorse his plan. |
