Rudy Boschwitz’s contention that Social Security is in “perennial crisis” overlooks the fact that the program has provided baseline financial security for multiple generations of retirees, disabled workers, and their families (Social Security Needs Saving Again, 6/7/22). While the Social Security Trustees project that the program’s combined trust fund will become depleted in 2035 without Congressional action, their economic assumptions for the rest of the century indicate that the program is eminently affordable. We support the legislation introduced by Rep. John Larson (D-CT) to adjust the payroll wage cap so that higher earners pay their fair share, which would help extend the solvency of the trust fund. Instead, Boschwitz mainly prescribes a panoply of benefit cuts – including raising the retirement age again and switching to a more miserly COLA formula. He views modest Social Security benefit improvements as the problem, rather than the rising income inequality that has deprived the trust fund of revenue. Boschwitz’s policy prescriptions may please fiscal conservatives, but polling has shown that majorities of Americans reject ‘reforms’ which ask them to make greater financial sacrifices while the wealthy stand by and watch.
Max Richtman
President & CEO
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Washington, DC