Op Ed: Conventional Wisdom is Just Plain Wrong on Social Security

Social Security is secure, solvent and here for the long term. Those who claim that it is not are just plain wrong.

If you repeat something even if it’s wrong often enough, people begin to believe it.  The fiscal foundations and future of Social Security, so important to so many of us, have been subject to a blizzard of misinformation.   Every year the Social Security Trust Fund Trustees report to Congress on the long-term financial health of Social Security. The reports provide our elected officials with the information they need to secure and ensure the fund’s future. Despite this year’s positive report, scare stories abound. 

To defend and strengthen this vital safety net and insurance policy, relied on by millions of us, we must learn the real facts about its solvency and future reliability. 

Social Security is here for the long term: The only way that Social Security could cease to pay its promised benefits is if Congress repealed the Social Security Act and the President signed it into law.  Congress has never failed in the past to adjust the program to cover benefits. The fixes to any problems are  readily available and painless. These include raising the dollar amount that is subject to social security taxes.

Social Security has revenue streams other than payroll taxes: In addition to payroll taxes,  Social Security has other revenue streams including investment income from its large trust fund and taxes on benefits. By law Social Security cannot pay benefits if it has insufficient cash to cover costs. This has never happened in the history of the program. Congress could count on being fired if they let that happen.

The Social Security Trust Fund is solvent: The Social Security Trust Fund has $2.8 trillion as of December 2023.  These funds are backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government. They are more solid than private equities, stocks, or corporate bonds. The Treasury invests the surplus in interest-bearing U.S. government securities, which in 2022 earned about $66.4 billion in interest. 

Social Security does not add a penny to the public debt: By law, Social Security cannot borrow funds to cover its costs, therefore it doesn’t contribute to the national deficit. The real drivers of our current national deficit are two wars (Afghanistan and Iraq) launched and fought on borrowed funds, huge tax cuts for the ultra-rich including the Trump Tax Cuts of 2017, and sky-high healthcare costs. The good news about health care costs is that they can be and are being reined in by President Biden and Senator Jon Tester, in part by allowing Medicare to use its buying power to lower the costs of prescription drugs. Investments in preventive care have also lowered healthcare costs nationwide and will continue to pay dividends.

Undocumented workers are prohibited by law from receiving Social Security: and, Social Security is strengthened by the contributions of immigrants and new Americans who pay into the fund through payroll taxes.

Whistle Stop - Exposing Myths and Zombie Lies About Social Security: Are you surprised? So were we! That is why we are sponsoring a “whistle stop” tour featuring Alex Lawson of Social Security Works to help expose the myths that are far too widely believed. Alex will be visiting Glendive, Miles City, Red Lodge, Billings, Lewistown, Great Falls, Helena, Missoula and Butte the week of July 28-Aug. 2.  

You are invited to join us for a lively discussion about the bright future of social security, the largest and most effective anti-poverty program in our nation’s history, a program we demand that our elected officials and candidates support and defend.  Look for local details at http://www.bigskyfiftyfive.org/whistlestop.

TERRY MINOW

Minow, Jon Ellingson, Elizabeth Marum, Barbara Archer, and Bill Bronson, serve on the Board of  Big Sky 55+, a group that organizes older Montanans for solutions that advance the common good such as social security and affordable health care.