Eliminate The Retirement Earnings Test?

      Tom Margenau is a retired Social Security manager who writes a syndicated column on Social Security matters. He has a column out recommending a simple change in the laws that would end most overpayments — eliminating the retirement earnings test. If you go on Social Security retirement benefits before full retirement age you can only earn so much money each year, currently $24,480,  before you lose at least part of your Social Security retirement benefits. That’s the retirement earnings test. This provision is difficult to administer. Retirees end up earning more money than they expected, sometimes late in the year. Think Christmas associated overtime and end of year bonuses, for instance. Retirees get confused because they think of their take home pay rather than their gross income. Eliminate the retirement earnings test and the many overpayments associated with it disappear. However, the number of people retiring at age 62 would soar.

     What do you think?

Worrisome Future Fertility Rates

       From Market Watch:

Social Security’s finances may be in worse shape than thought. 

The Social Security Trustees — who release a report each year on the health of the program that supports about 70 million retirees and people with disabilities — have been relying on overly optimistic forecasts for future fertility rates, according to a blog report from the Cato Institute. 

Those forecasts are at odds with projections from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) — the nonpartisan federal agency that provides Congress with independent analysis of budgetary and economic issues — which both have much more sober forecasts for fertility rates. … 

The Trustees assume that the current fertility rate of about 1.6 children per woman will increase to 1.9 by the early 2040s, the Cato Institute said. By 2100, the SSA projects a total fertility rate roughly 30% higher than both the Census Bureau and the CBO, which expect fertility to continue to decline.  …

Bisignano Accused Of Sycophancy

     From the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare (NCPSSM) concerning Commissioner Bisignano’s IRS role in facilitating the $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” slush fund:

… Bisignano’s chief talent is sycophancy and raising no questions about anything,” a former veteran Social Security Administration (SSA) employee told us. The same former SSA employee added that no career professional “would remain silent” in the face of an outrage like the “Anti-Weaponization Fund.” …

The veteran SSA employee who spoke to us described the Social Security Administration as “not even recognizable” under Bisignano’s reign, pointing to what he sees as a breakdown in long-standing norms, internal safeguards, and respect for career expertise. Others warn that the same leadership style could enable or obscure future controversies, including ongoing concerns surrounding DOGE data breaches. …

     Ordinarily a group like NCPSSM wants to maintain cordial relations with Commissioners. This NCPSSM post is a sign of just how badly the well has been poisoned. 

     Bisignano may think that talk of him being prosecuted over the “anti-weaponization” fund is over the top. It isn’t. Unless the fund is quashed or Bisignano is pardoned, it will happen. Even in these times, this is far into the criminal realm.

Getting The Work Done

From AOL.com:

… Former SSA senior advisor Kathleen Romig said, "You can't reorganize your way out of a staff crunch. If there aren't enough people to get the work done, reshuffling them won't ultimately help." Given the difficulties with automated and AI-based systems, she's got a point that improving efficiency will only do so much. …

Isn’t It Great That Trump Has Discovered How To Save Social Security!

      From the Washington Examiner:

President Donald Trump hosted the 12th Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday, where he claimed that the White House’s anti-fraud task force may balance the federal budget and save Social Security. …

The president claimed that the task force has already identified “billions and billions and billions” worth of fraud, adding that if the initiative “does really great, we’ll have a balanced budget without having to do anything.”

“Everybody was getting rich, and I think we have a chance to save Social Security without doing anything to it,” Trump said. Just the numbers of fraudulent people on Social Security — people that are 115 years old, 125 years old, getting payments. It’s funny.”

“The numbers that we’re finding out — we have great people in Social Security. We’re going to make our Social Security so strong, so good, that you’d never seen anything like it,” he continued. “We’re going to protect, I said right from the beginning, we’re going to protect our people in Social Security.” …

     By the way, please note that I occasionally use irony. Comments to my post yesterday suggest that some of my readers can’t figure this out or they’re unable to spot obvious irony when they see it. 

No Sympathy For Fraudsters Like This

      From KMTV:

Christopher Storm was 17 years old, working at Pizza Hut and going to high school in Texas when his father died. He received survivor benefits from Social Security — roughly $500 a month — until he turned 18.

After a final, lump sum payment of roughly $3,000, he says benefits stopped when he came of age. Thirty years later, the government wants that money back.

Storm and his wife, Amy, expected a tax refund this year. Instead, they were told the IRS was claiming it for a past debt. The Social Security Administration says Storm was overpaid in 1996 and now owes almost $8,000. …

Memorial Day

Legislation Being Considered

      From a press release prepared by the Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee about a markup hearing for several pieces of legislation:

… We will also consider legislation from Representative Austin Scott that helps disability insurance beneficiaries return to work by reauthorizing the Social Security Administration’s authority to test new approaches that remove barriers for beneficiaries looking to work. …

     I don’t know what this legislation is but I doubt it amounts to much. The Ranking Member of the Social Security Subcommittee thinks the legislation poses risks for claimants.