Social Security and COVID-19: 3 ways the shutdown could impact the program

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OPINION: We need to talk about the pandemic's effect on Social Security. We need to ensure that people retiring in the mid-2030s and later do not see a 20% to 25% cut in benefits.

The 2020 Social Security Trustees Report, which came out a few weeks ago, showed an increase in the program’s 75-year deficit from 2.78% to 3.21% of taxable payroll. The depletion date for the trust fund remained at 2035.

Since this report was prepared before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and shutdown of the economy, the press is eager to know how the pandemic would affect the outlook. In an effort to be thorough, I offered three avenues through which the shutdown of the economy could affect the program.Program finances. Let me start with the biggest question.

The 2020 Trustees Report projects an increase in the Average Wage Index, but I argued that, in the wake of COVID-19, wages in 2020 may well decline rather than increase, as it did in 2009.It never occurred to me that average wages could increase in 2020. But, indeed, that is what happened in April. In fact, average weekly earnings of private sector workers in April 2020 were 7.2% higher than in April 2019 and 5.0% higher than in March 2020.

The good news is that starting benefits for those nearing retirement would not be adversely affected. The bad news is that our already unequal distribution of earnings and income will only be worse after this mess ends.

 

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The average SS recipient currently receives 30%+ the amount they are taxed. So even by this estimate they will receive more than their taxed amounts.

Raising the cap on the tax for social security would dramatically improve sustainability of benefits, while only slightly impacting high wage earners.

Start taxing robots that are replacing workers. Robots don’t contribute into the system and corporations have too many loopholes to hide income AOC

Inflation will make it irrelevant anyways.

Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. So is the retirement fund Ponzi scheme that has dumped trillions of working class wages into the Wall Street 'free' money Machine that is not close to being real.

Fire Trump then.

Why would anybody cut benefits? We just print that stuff now when we need it. Did you miss the memo?

No need to make any cuts as 25% of Trumps elderly supporters will be dead by the time JoeBiden takes office. ThxRona

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