Social Security Retirement Bankruptcy Has to be Addressed
We applaud the Columbus Dispatch for weighing in on this important issue. On November 8, 2013, that paper published its editorial entitled ‘Drifting Closer to Danger-If Social Security isn’t reformed, harsh arithmetic will take its course’. They note the latest ‘poll findings that Americans aged 50 and up oppose the idea of raising the Social Security Retirement age or trimming cost-of-living increases for the program’. The also note that Social Security will be bankrupt in 2033 and will have taxes available to pay only ¾ of the benefits payable. Given that the program was financed by current generations paying for the retirement of past generations, a major problem has been set up with ‘the entry of the huge baby-boom generation into retirement… a demographic train wreck that can’t be wished away’. Others have referred to the Social Security Retirement program as a Ponzi scheme that has begun to fail. The editorial recommends ‘that politicians and people willing to look at the problem honestly will have to start talking about it honestly’. In addition, it recommends that the under 50 voters should be polled and consulted since they will be the ones likely to suffer the consequences of any change. Finally, it notes ‘the first step will have to be taken by either politicians or voters willing to acknowledge an unhappy reality’. We concur with the editorial. Remember, this pending bankruptcy of Social Security Retirement in 2033 is one of the three bankruptcies facing us. The Social Security Disability program goes bankrupt in 2016 and Medicare in 2026. We all will be impacted and need to insist that the President and Congress act now. I have outlined the many options available to our nation both in this blog and in this website.
Harry Pukay-Martin
