Social Security is going broke — here are 3 simple ways to save it

Joe Smyth

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If you agree with these proposals, share this column with your family, friends and members of Congress. If you disagree, write a letter to the editor. And if you have better ideas, I’d love to hear them.”

Throughout history, great nations eventually fail because of debt. And that's exactly where America is heading.

Our national debt now tops $35 trillion — $106,000 for every man, woman and child. For a family of four, that’s $424,000. Unlike a mortgage, there’s no plan to pay it down. Washington just keeps borrowing more.

Politicians aren’t going to solve this for us. The two major political parties blame one another, but they are both playing the same irresponsible game. They get elected by cutting our taxes and giving us more government benefits. We elect Trump to reverse Obama’s policies, then elect Biden to reverse Trump’s policies, then elect Trump again to reverse Biden’s policies — but nothing really changes.

And, sorry, but no, Elon Musk’s chainsaw can’t solve the problem. If he fired every civil service employee, we’d save only 3% of the federal budget. It was all just for show, like so much of today’s politics.

The quality of our elected officials keeps going down because most Americans are decent human beings who wouldn’t be willing to do what it takes to get elected and reelected. Our politicians make promises about reducing the deficit, but that hasn’t happened since Clinton. They raise money by stoking fears, doing favors for special interest lobbyists, and borrowing money to spend more and tax less. They get rich while the nation goes broke.

America needs an uprising by the people. Reform groups like American Promise, Open Primaries, No Labels and the Forward Party give me hope. If their supporters were to rally together, they could make a real difference. But they need you to understand that neither party is offering real answers, and that you should consider joining the reform movements.

Our nation — the greatest in world history — can still be saved. It’s time for us — we the people — to face the reality that we must cut spending and increase taxes. It’s time for us to finally step up, speak out and demand common sense solutions.

Let’s start with Social Security, one of the largest of our many fiscal challenges.

Both parties vow never to touch it, but it’s heading toward insolvency. Why? Retirees are living longer, and fewer young workers are entering the system.

Many of us like to say, “We earned it.” But today’s typical retiree collects more than $300,000 more than they contributed. And sorry, but the politicians didn’t invest our payroll taxes. They spent the money.

Here’s how we can fix Social Security with three simple steps:

• Subject all wages to the payroll tax. Today, the 12.4% tax (half paid by you and half by your employer) applies only to the first $176,100 in annual earnings. Yes, applying the tax to all income would increase taxes for everybody who earns more than $176,100. But would it cause millionaires and billionaires to leave America? Surely not in a nation in which the wealthiest 50% of us now own 97% of total wealth.

• Use the “chained” Consumer Price Index (instead of the full CPI) to calculate benefit increases. We don’t replace our homes, cars, and furniture every year, so the full CPI overestimates the actual impact of inflation.

• Gradually increase the retirement age. The current retirement age ranges from 62 to 67. Gently adjusting it upward, based on future increases in longevity, would strengthen the system without affecting current retirees.

These three reforms would close Social Security’s funding gap — and should even produce surpluses to help reduce the overall deficit.

If you agree with these proposals, share this column with your family, friends and members of Congress.

If you disagree, write a letter to the editor.

And if you have better ideas, I’d love to hear them.

Editor’s note: Joe Smyth is a freelance columnist and the author of “Fixing America’s Broken Politics.” He lives in Scottsdale. He can be reached at joesmythaz@gmail.com. Please send your comments to AzOpinions@iniusa.org. We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our Civility Guidelines.