Social Security Trojan Horse

 A Trojan Horse to cut benefits for Social Security – The Trust Act. A conservative wet dream repeatedly introduced by both Republicans and conservative Democrats (including the infamous Senator Manchin) sets up a bipartisan committee to propose changes that could be fast-tracked through Congress.

The proposed alternative is The Social Security 2100 Act., introduced October 26, 2021. While it does increase benefits somewhat, it only increases the solvency of Social Security to 2038, rather than the current 2034. After that, per the Social Security Actuarial Office, the assumption is that Social Security would borrow from General Revenues.

Senator Manchin (DINO-WV), in a quote on Romney's official website, opines that "Generations of irresponsibly cutting taxes combined with spending beyond our means has left the important programs on which we all depend – Medicare, Social Security, highways, and pensions – on the brink of insolvency."

Does anyone remember when Congress cut Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes? I don't. Does anyone remember when spending beyond our means affected payroll tax revenues (which fund Social Security and Medicare)? I don't.

No. What has occurred is decades of efforts by the GOP to kill Social Security. They have proposed privatization. They have repeatedly blamed "entitlement" programs for increasing the National Debt. They have blocked routine adjustments to payroll tax rates, and they have stopped adjustments to salary wage caps for income subject to those taxes. They have blocked reallocations of revenues between the retirement insurance, disability insurance, and survivor' benefit programs of Social Security. (Note that Social Security is not a savings plan; it is an insurance plan.)

The GOP is ideologically opposed to government programs that the financial sector cannot make a profit on. Money and greed – the pillars upon which the Republican party rests.

And what better way to gut Social Security than to create an artificial crisis to cut benefits? Instead of a 75-year 100% solvency, Social Security is only fully funded until 2034, a mere 13 years. Cue cries of "Reform! Save Social Security!"

And so this program, outside of general revenues, not affecting the federal budget, not affecting the National Debt, is somehow now in need of reform to fix all of those.

Also fueling GOP's lust is the matching employer portion of payroll taxes. Never mind that it's a cost of employment; companies somehow feel that it is their money being taken.

Social Security is not the federal government's biggest expense; it is not part of the general budget. Social Security is separate. It has its own revenue stream, and its surpluses and deficits are handled through the Trust Fund. And that $3 trillion in the Trust Fund has not been looted. Its paper IOUs are interest-bearing Treasury Bonds; those bonds are not instruments of theft.

The easiest way to fix and expand Social Security is to raise the payroll tax exemptions, or wage salary caps, above which payroll taxes are not paid. Fix revenues, not benefits. Lower-income wage earners fund social Security. It's time to get the wealthy to pay more of their fair share instead of letting them continue their efforts at killing Social Security.

Romney, Bipartisan Coalition Introduce TRUST Act for Inclusion in Next Relief Package, July 27, 2020, romney.senate.gov 

Time to Rescue United States Trusts (TRUST) Act, April 21, 2021, congress.gov

Thompson co-authors Social Security 2100 Act to expand Social Security program, October 27, 2021, thereporter.com

SOCIAL SECURITY, Office of the Chief Actuary,

"Estimates of the financial effects on Social Security of enacting Social Security 2100: A Sacred Trust", October 26, 2021, ssa.gov

Globalization

Corporations and the wealthy have spent years removing all barriers to imports and offshore manufacturing. Many imported goods aren't manufactured to the same legal standards as domestic goods, which is unfair competition. 

Even wage standards for workers are not the same, and most foreign companies do not have to provide health care coverage for their employees. Either they don't bother, or their countries (like most western industrialized nations) have some form of universal healthcare.

The cheap extraction by US companies of foreign resources often leaves behind huge messes.

The US no longer protects most domestic production from unfair competition, and corporations reap huge profits from this. 

Good luck with leveling the playing field in this era of globalization. We have become an oligarchy (control is exercised by a small group of individuals whose authority is generally based on wealth or power), resulting in unfettered capitalism. 

The GOP mostly achieved their goal of destroying unions, and now Democrats and Republicans both rely mainly on corporate and wealthy donors.

It's a mad, mad world.

Of course, this is just my opinion. 😥