Biden and Trump Should Learn from Sweden’s Social Security Reform

February 23, 2023 by Dan Mitchell

Some American politicians, such as Joe Biden and Donald Trump, are very much opposed to dealing with Social Security, even though the current system has a massive $56 trillion cash-flow deficit. For all intents and purposes, both the current president and his predecessor want to kick the can down the road, which surely is a recipe for massive future tax increases and may cause drastic changes to promised benefits.  Given their advanced ages, they probably won’t be around next decade when the you-know-what hits the fan.

But the rest of us will have to deal with a terrible situation thanks to their selfish approach. Other nations are more fortunate, with leaders who put the national interest above personal political ambition.  Johan Norberg has a new column in the Wall Street Journal about how Swedish lawmakers adopted personal retirement accounts and undertook other reforms to strengthen their pension system.......To Read More....

Social Security should be in the spotlight. February 22, 2023 By Brenton Smith -The mainstream media coverage concerning President Biden's remarks about Social Security during his State of the Union address and the Republican reaction has been remarkable in its ability to miss the point.  Pundits sparred over whether the Republicans or Democrats won, when the real story is who lost in this sideshow.  After all, it is the average, hardworking American who has paid into and therefore deserves Social Security. Unfortunately, everyday Americans who need to know whether or not they can rely on the trust fund received no worthy news coverage and likely won't for the next decade................

Social Security is Broke, but American Taxpayers Just Gave Ukrainian Pensioners a Double-Digit Raise By William Sullivan - As American taxpayers paying into Social Security today stare down the barrel toward substantial cuts to their own benefits, estimated to take place in 2034, they can at least take solace in knowing that all categories of Ukrainian pensioners will get a 20% raise in March 2023.  “As early as this March,” says Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, “the government will index pensions by 20%” for about 10 million Ukrainians. Indexing the payments “is not mandatory according to the Law of Ukraine on the State Budget for 2023,” but benevolent President Zelensky has instructed them to reprice the benefits upwards anyway. And why wouldn’t he?  His government is swimming in American cash......................

Biden sued for injecting woke politics into retirement accounts - By Bob Unruh February 21 -Joe Biden is being sued for his scheming to inject politics into retirement accounts – the savings millions of Americans have set aside for their own senior years.The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, has confirmed it has filed a legal action on behalf of retirement account participants Rick Braun and Fred Luehrs against the government over a new rule created by the Biden administration.........

 

What Does Social Security Insolvency Mean?, By Andrew G. Biggs February 21, 2023 - The current controversy over cutting Social Security benefits is driven by a single fact: The Social Security program is projected to be insolvent in little more than a decade unless Congress takes remedial action. But what does insolvency mean for Social Security? Back in 1935, Social Security was set up to resemble a private pension plan. While the legal niceties are a bit complex, what Americans would see is that they pay taxes into Social Security while working, and in return they qualify for benefits in retirement or if they become disabled. President Franklin Roosevelt established this setup to differentiate Social Security as an “earned benefit” from what we today would refer to as “welfare,” which generally is funded from income taxes. 

Dedicated Social Security taxes, Roosevelt said, “are politics all the way through. We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program. Those taxes aren’t a matter of economics, they’re straight politics.” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was, if nothing else, a canny politician. Attempts to reduce Social Security are not countered merely with arguments based upon need, but upon the perceived unfairness of cutting benefits that Americans understandably believe they have paid for...............