Dear Editor:
Is Social Security in trouble because of its disability program? Without citing any sources Don Fleener says it is. Then he trumpets a bill in Congress to fix the problem. He does not cite the bill by name or how it will help. I am skeptical of the problem and solution.
Fleener took issue with my criticism of a Chicago newspaper editorial reprinted in the Tribune. As we seemingly do not agree on monetary issues, Fleener states I just don't know what I am talking about. What I previously said about Social Security is that it is our money and I expect to get it back with interest because our government has used it to cover other debts and given SSA a bond to hold. For the government it's the same as borrowing money from Canada or China. Conservatives do not argue that those countries should be stiffed because they feel entitled to get their money back with interest.
Without citing Lawrence Kotlikoff (Boston University professor) Fleener uses Kotlikoff's argument that SSA is doomed because of intergenerational borrowing and payment of benefits in the Social Security system. This specifically is where Fleener says I am misinformed. Not exactly. We just do not agree. I believe Kotlikoff's argument is flawed. It never takes into context the time value of money. Then Kotlikoff alleges gigantic amounts of debt over the next 75 years. This debt is not trivial but most economists say it is manageable.
Clearly Kotlikoff (and Fleener) do not accept Social Security as a public safety net. Fleener reduces his argument to the idea that I am not collecting my money but taking it from current workers. That's a silly argument. Money put in my bank account by his logic is not the same exact money when I withdraw it. So what? The American government has benefited from our Social Security money and we should expect to get it back.
Social Security monies are our money. And while the system was not expected to be a retirement plan but a social safety net, more than half of all SSA recipients count SSA payments as a major source of retirement income. That says more about our capitalistic system than about SSA.
If Social Security is in trouble, it is because of politicians acting like crooks who would misspend our money. Who is for that?
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