Congressional Hearing On Social Security Funding

 The House Social Security Subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on Social Security's finances. 

Stephen Goss, Social Security's long time Chief Actuary, testified about the underlying cause of Social Security's long term financing problem:

... [T]he real reason for the rising cost of Social Security over the next 25 years is the aging of the population, not principally because we are living longer or because of the post-World War II baby boom, but because of the drop in birth rates since the baby boom. ...

The fact that overall birth rates dropped from 3 to 2 children per woman in the United States has led directly to the change in the age distribution of our population that presents a financial challenge not only to Social Security and Medicare in the future, but also to every aspect of our economy. ...

Goss also addressed the question of whether the Social Security trust funds have any real significance:

Perhaps the strongest evidence of the importance of the trust funds is constraint they provide on program financing. History clearly shows that Congress is moved, even forced into action anytime a trust fund approaches exhaustion.

Thus, while Social Security has run a cumulative surplus of $2.6 trillion since it started collecting taxes in 1937, the rest of government has run up a debt now over $14 trillion and rising.

 Will this argument convince those who believe that the Social Security trust funds are a meaningless abstraction? Of course, not. They would be arguing that it's a meaningless abstraction even if the trust funds were completely invested in gold ingots.

The Subcommittee also heard from: 

• The Chief of Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, whose written remarks are about as tedious as one would expect from someone in his position.
• Someone representing a group of state and local employees who don't want to be covered by Social Security. Are you really sure given what's happening to public employee pensions?
• Alex Brill (who testified that if we raise the FICA tax, we should do it by extending it to employee benefits, which means that he's arguing for a middle class tax increase instead of an increase in taxes just on the wealthy) and Andrew Biggs (who recommended lowering benefits -- but not on poor people), both of whom work for the American Enterprise Institute and are thereby indirectly on the payroll of the Koch brothers.
• Mark Warshawsky, formerly a Bush Treasury appointee whose main job at the time seemed to be promoting Social Security privatization. He is now on the Social Security Advisory Board. He almost literally pleads in his written remarks that we not increase Social Security taxes on the wealthy. The first reason he gives is that this group has not "seen particularly large gains in earnings." His argument is that those earning between about $100,000 and $215,000 haven't had big earnings gains. It's those earning above $215,000 who have had the big gains! That's your best argument?

Randomization Of SSNs

A notice from Social Security:

Effective June 25, 2011, SSA [Social Security Administration] is changing the way Social Security Numbers (SSNs) are issued. This change is referred to as "randomization." The SSA is developing this new method to help protect the integrity of the SSN. SSN Randomization will also extend the longevity of the nine-digit SSN nationwide.

If you are a conspiracy theorist, you already know the dastardly reasons for this change.

You Want A Fight?

“You want a fight? ... If anybody in this building wants to take on Social Security — privatize it, change the benefits by altering the consumer price index or by any other method — know this: You’ve got a fight on your hands.”

Rep. John Garamendi (D-Calif.) quoted in The Hill

Why Am I Not Surprised?

From Bloomberg News:

Cutting U.S. Social Security benefits for seniors and the disabled may cause steeper spending declines in House districts controlled by Republicans, hurting local businesses, a Bloomberg Government study found. 

Republicans are likely to represent districts with more residents collecting Social Security checks for retirees or benefits for the disabled, compared with Democrats, according to the study. Curtailing the federal aid would give recipients less spending money, said Jason Arvelo, the Bloomberg Government labor analyst who wrote the report released today. ...

Republicans control eight of 10 House districts -- in Florida, Michigan, New Jersey and Pennsylvania -- with the most Social Security retirement benefits to seniors and survivors per resident. Democrats hold the 10 districts in Illinois, California, New York, Texas and Arizona with the lowest average benefits....

Reducing benefits would cause the biggest economic impact in West Virginia, Florida, Pennsylvania and Michigan, according to the report by Arvelo, formerly a senior analyst at economic consulting firm Compass Lexecon LLC, a subsidiary of FTI Consulting Inc. based in West Palm Beach, Florida. 

West Virginia, Kentucky, Arkansas and Alabama top the list of states that would be likely to be hurt by bills curtailing disability benefits.

Passing Of Mark Lassiter

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2011 5:28 PM
To: Undisclosed recipients
Subject: COMMISSIONER’S BROADCAST--06/22/11

A Message To All SSA And DDS Employees

Subject:  The Passing of Mark Lassiter

It continues to be a tough week as we deal with the sudden loss of our Press Officer, Mark Lassiter, who passed away on Monday, June 20 at the age of 57.

Mark began his career with Social Security in 1976 as a claims representative in the Portsmouth, Virginia field office, near his childhood home of Hampton.  Over his 35 years with the agency, Mark’s talent and ability enabled him to rise through the ranks, assuming jobs of increasing responsibility in the Philadelphia Region, including five years as the District Manager in Petersburg, Virginia.  Mark’s distinguished career brought him to Social Security Headquarters twice – working in the Office of the Commissioner from 1992 to 1995 and in the Press Office from 2003 until his death. 

Mark’s untimely passing reminds us of just how precious life is.  He spent Father’s Day weekend with those he loved most – Nancy, his wife of 35 years; his son Tyler and his daughter Brooke, who is also an ODAR employee.  Please keep them in your prayers as they join with family and friends for a memorial service in Hampton tomorrow.  At the request of his family, memorial contributions in Mark’s honor may be made to the American Heart Association , P.O. Box 5216, Glen Allen, Va. 23058. 

Michael J. Astrue

Commissioner

The Baltimore Sun also has a piece on Lassiter's death.

Personal Income Growth Mostly Due To FICA Cut

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Rising personal income in the first quarter of the year was mostly due to lowered Social Security taxes, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this morning. 

The bureau credited the high rate of growth nationally to the 2 percent reduction in what workers pay into the Social Security system.

Playing Rope-A-Dope?

From Josh Marshall at TPM:

It's astonishing to me that there's actually a growing number of Republicans pushing to make major cuts to Social Security as part of the bum's rush push for spending cuts this summer and fall. The idea has zero public support. And it doesn't make much sense from a policy standpoint since Social Security isn't what's driving the country's structural deficits. What's most surprising though is that many Democrats are along for the ride.

That's Rich

It was just last Friday that AARP let out that it might not be totally opposed to any cut in Social Security. You would think that Republicans might be feeling a little love for AARP right now. Not at the Social Security Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee. They are blasting AARP for what they say are fibs about the budget and entitlements. They are even criticizing the AARP for suggesting that the budget can be balanced simply by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. 

I don't think it's the AARP's fault that most people believe that the budget can be painlessly balanced by the elimination of "waste, fraud and abuse." Republicans have been making a living off the "waste, fraud and abuse" myth since Ronald Reagan was President. Look in the mirror, Republicans. You're the ones responsible for the public believing this myth, not AARP. And while you're at it, remember who is to blame for the myth that cutting taxes increases revenue.