The proper “tools” to fix the Social Security system have been known for several decades; it is simple. And it is well-known that the longer we wait before fixing Social Security, the harsher it becomes to do the job.
So I will move quickly with the proper “tools” to fix Social Security. The two available options are: 1) increasing the tax base high enough to pay for the current Social Security system without crippling our Productive workers; and/or 2) reducing to total amount of money which is being paid out to present or future recipients. I aim to use both of those options, but gradually rather than suddenly.
As President, Charles Skelley will ask Congress to immediately raise the age to begin drawing Social Security benefits by one-half year. And then I will ask Congress to continue raising the age for people to start drawing SS benefits by one-half year in each succeeding year, until the official CBO number-crunchers show that this action has eliminated half of the currently underfunded Social Security obligations. The 1983 Social Security reform (designed by Allan Greenspan) was designed to cure half of the economic shortfall which number-crunching experts foresaw at the time of the reform. I aim to repeat the scope of that reform by again curing half of the economic shortfall that is now known to exist in the Social Security system. This will mean that the age to begin receiving SS benefits will again have to rise, just as it did in the 1980’s.
The United States needs vastly more Working Capital in US cities to supply anything even close to the amount of payouts that are currently dialed-in for Social Security and Medicare recipients. Our nation’s Saving Rate has declined steadily for the last 3 decades, and is now either zero or negative. Meanwhile, Productive Jobs have been going overseas in large numbers for the last 3 decades. Both of these issues are really mirror images of each other. And together they demonstrate that, Working Capital (especially in support the Productive sectors of our national economy) needs to be created more rapidly among US residents, so the US can pay for our social programs.
Filed under: Charles Skelley
