Mathematics of the Social Security "Crisis"

ScottyB writes "Here's a good start for reading into the economics and history of the much-discussed 'crisis' in Social Security. It's from the NY Times magazine, so you know the drill...'A Question of Numbers.'"

Comments

The frame is "only YOU can pay for YOUR SS"

[Cryofan]

The mass media and the GOP and Democrats are setting up a frame of perspective from which we must all view this Social Security (SS) debate.

This is the frame: only YOU can pay for YOUR SS. Meaning that your SS benefits can only be paid for by you. But in reality, others have always paid for the benefits of many others' SS.

When the mass media and the Dems and GOP are trying to steer us away from are ideas like the following:

--raising the cap on the SS payroll tax (currently at $86K) and using the substantial monies from that to pay into a general SS fund.

--taxing the substantial wealth of the plutocrats, and using that to pay for SS, and many other items. Just a small 1% tax on wealth of the rich would pay for SS, universal healthcare and college tuition for all.