The One Thing That Could Save Social Security…

…but our government will never do. As this USA Today op-ed points out, social security is not taxed on incomes over $90,000. What this means is if you earn $120,000 a year, or $300,000 or even $6 million, you pay the same amount of social security as someone earning $90,000. The article also points out that eliminating this cap will completely solve the “crisis” apparently facing social security.

However, politicians, economists and even many journalists are reluctant to talk about this, presumably because they typically earn far more than $90,000. The USA Today article is not encouraging this approach as the writer believes it would create an unfair welfare system, where the rich pay far more than they will ever receive. They also believe that it would be impossible to shore up support for the approach, despite that “two-thirds of those in a USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup Poll this year supported eliminating the cap.”

Why couldn’t they find the support? Well, USA Today says the 10 million Americans whose earning exceeds $90,000 a year wouldn’t support the change. But 10 Million is but a fraction of the total wage earners in the country, leaving upwards of 200 million earning below $90,000 a year that would stand to benefit from eliminating the cap.

Apparently this just demonstrates the kind of power wielded in this country by what is, in fact, a small minority. If majority rules, this should be one of the biggest options on the table. Instead, we mostly hear about a plan that stands to benefit those 10 million and few others: privatization. A majority of those 10 million are almost certainly stockholders, who stand to benefit through large numbers of people suddenly feeling compelled to invest their social security in the stock market for fear of losing their retirement income. And no one seems to care if they do.

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