Terrence Dunn’s letter (“GOP threatens Social Security,” “Our Readers’ Views,” Feb. 14), like Froma Harrop’s column, repeats the fictions we have been fed for some decades now regarding Social Security.
First, there is no “trust fund.” There never has been. It was a political fiction. Social Security is, and always has been, a gigantic Ponzi scheme, wherein funds coming out are supplied by those paying in.
In 1945, shortly after the program began, there were 41.9 payers per payee; by 1970, the ratio was 3.7 payers per payee; by 1980, it was 3.2. The bipartisan reforms of 1983 temporarily stopped the bleeding by raising the retirement age and, for the first time, subjecting benefits to the federal income tax. But the ratio of payers to payees has continued to decline, and is now under 3. There are simply not enough people paying in to continue the program as presently constructed — too many baby boomers and not enough younger people. It’s math.
Raising contributions by increasing the income subject to the tax would postpone the inevitable, but only temporarily and at the cost of decreasing incentives for the most productive members of society.
Current recipients should be protected, but for the future, thorough reform is essential. Again, it’s math.
