Former K.C. Star columnist's letter in the STAR on August 30, 2013
Steve Winn was an excellent columnist when he was at the STAR. I hated to see him go, but I hate that he is now a communications director for the Concord Coalition. In the 2nd paragraph of his letter to the Editor, he wrote that, “AARP continues to suggest that Social Security’s financial difficulties are in the distant future and that the system has nothing to do with the federal deficit.” He went on to say that, “Neither claim is true.” He is wrong.
In his letter, Winn claimed that, “The system has been spending more than it takes in since 2010.” In fact, Social Security has been running surpluses in the OASDI trust funds and are projected to run surpluses until 2020. The fund will not be depleted until 2033 if the Congress does nothing to increase revenues. The DI, disability insurance, will be depleted by 2016. The combined Social Security funds are financed from payroll taxes and have nothing to do with the general budget.
Mr. Winn’s claim that Social Security contributes to the federal deficits is dead wrong. Social Security has not added one dime to the federal deficits; instead, its surpluses have helped to fund them.
With small adjustments, Social Security could be fully funded for 75 years; Congressional Republicans do not want to act. To do that, the system would need additional funding equivalent of 2.72% of payroll income. There are many options for increasing revenue without increasing the payroll tax. Lifting the earnings ceiling would be one way. Taxing stock transactions by a few cents would bring in billions of dollars in additional funding. But why should the program be funded for 75 years ahead? No other government program is funded that far out. Social Security surpluses would only be loaned to the government which would use the borrowed funds for general expenditures. The program is currently fully funded to last until 2033, it seems to me that funding the program for twenty years ahead is more than enough.
The Concord Coalition is not a non-partisan organization. The organization was co-founded by Paul Rudman a Democrat who passed away in 1995 and Republican billionaire Peter G. Peterson who has long been a propagandist who wants to loot Social Security. He has sponsored propaganda films that make the rounds just before national elections. In the movie, I.O.U.S.A. the claim is made the Social Security has trillions of dollars in unfunded mandates. What other government program is required to be funded for an indefinite future. To fund the trust fund for 75 years ahead and to forecast shortfalls into the indefinite future is ludicrous.
As someone who admired the work done by Steve Winn when he was with the Kansas City Star, I feel ashamed for him that he has stooped so low as to be the propagandist for the Concord Coalition. You can read his letter at:http://concordcoalition.org/publications/2013/0830/social-security-and-aarp
For more information on Peterson and the Concord Coalition, see the following websites.
For more details concerning the Social Security Trust Fund, see the following website: http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/trustee13-pr.html
