The Editorial Board of the Washington Post has come out with its plan to “save” Social Security. It’s fairly simple: means test benefits. They don’t even mention the possibility of raising taxes. They don’t engage with the fact that means testing Social Security doesn’t even “save” Social Security unless you apply it quite harshly to those now receiving Social Security or you use vast amounts of general revenues to make up the difference, something they dismiss off the top.
You’d never guess that the Post is owned by Jeff Bezos who’s worth more than $280 billion.
Right wing think tanks and editorial pages seem to be coalescing around means testing Social Security as their demand for “saving” Social Security. I think Republicans in Congress will stand behind this demand — way behind it, like on a different continent.
The Democratic plan is to lift the cap on FICA. That’s vastly more popular with the public than turning Social Security into a “welfare” program. As someone once said, a program for poor people is a poor program. Democrats aren’t agreeing to means testing.
Means testing is the death knell for any public good. It’s a guaranteed way to pit the middle class and upper class against everyone else, and the root of why the social safety net is so broken.
ReplyDeleteIsn’t the beauty of Social Security that we all get out what we pay in? Means testing destroys that. The levels are also way too low. I see a proposal for $55K. So someone making $110K gets treated the same as Jeff Bezos?
ReplyDeleteBezos can’t afford to have the SSA cap eliminated since he had expensive “projects” to deal with that cut into his massive fortune. 💰
ReplyDeleteThe multi-day wedding celebration of Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez in Venice, Italy, on June 27, 2025, is estimated to have cost between $46 million and $56 million.
Amazon MGM Studios paid $40 million to license a documentary and limited series about Melania Trump, with over $28 million going directly to Mrs. Trump.
It’s a tough economy out there whether one’s rich or poor. 🛥️
I think there could be some amount of means testing in a consensus plan, carried out through small adjustments to bend points (possibly a new bend point for additional contributions), spousal benefits, and taxation of benefits. While Rs would describe these as means testing, Ds could call it "making the system more progressive." But if a solvency plan that only used cuts were politically possible, the Rs could have done it years ago. Sam Johnson wrote up a whole bill like that. It was actually deeper cuts than just letting the system go insolvent. The bill went nowhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat a surprise. Bezos refers to his vast stock wealth as "winnings." Ironically, lottery winners pay state and federal taxes on their winnings. But billionaires and the trillionaire don't sell their stock, so avoid taxation.
ReplyDeleteF**k this means testing bulls**t. Everyone loves to pretend they support means testing because it seems so practical and noble. Then when the rubber meets the road, those very same people invariably turn and bitch about how unfair it is that they pay for something that doesn’t benefit them as much as it does the poors.
ReplyDeleteDo remind the Whitewashington Post that Social Security benefits have been means tested since Reagan signed the 1983 Amendments that made them taxable...
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