Typical Politicians

      From CBS News:

 A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill on Tuesday designed to shore up Social Security's finances in the coming decades and prevent future benefit cuts for the 70 million Americans who rely on the program. …

The legislation, called the Promise Act, would not itself raise taxes, reduce benefits or change eligibility. Instead, it would direct the bipartisan, seven-member Social Security Advisory Board to draft a bill, informed by public input, to keep the program's trust funds solvent for at least the next 50 years. …

Any proposal developed by the advisory board would be introduced in the House and Senate by congressional leaders before being considered by committees, which could hold hearings and revise the legislation. To become law, it would need a three-fifths vote in the Senate and a majority vote in the House.

The Promise Act's additional sponsors include Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana; Sen. Tim Kaine, a Democrat from Virginia; Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina; and Sen. Angus King, an independent from Maine. …

     This is ridiculous. No panel of experts will come up with a bill that will draw widespread support. There’s no clever way of solving the problem that will hurt no one. You either raise taxes, which no Republican will support, cut benefits which no Democrat or Republican will support or you pay benefits out of general revenues, which no one will support as a long term solution but may have to accept. This bill is nothing more than pretending you’re doing something when you’re doing nothing. 

     A bill that combines tax increases and benefits cuts is a trap for Democrats. Republicans would probably provide a few votes to get such a bill passed and then campaign against Democrats for cutting benefits and raising taxes while laughing up their sleeves at the naïveté of the Democrats. Better for Democrats to wait until they control the White House and both houses of Congress so they can solve the problem with tax increases alone. Of course the filibuster stands in the way of doing this but that’s got to go at some point.