08.31.11
Rep. John Carter could potentially support raising to 70 the age for receiving full Social Security benefits
Most people who don’t spend time in Washington D.C. know the facts about Social Security. Social Security does not contribute to the budget deficit. That is the law. Of course Williamson County’s member of Congress John Carter (R-Round Rock) spends a lot of time in Washington and therefore is unaware of that facts regarding Social Security.
Carter, who has represented Texas’ 31st Congressional District since 2002, offered an overview of the country’s fiscal year 2010 spending.
With the help of a PowerPoint pie chart, he told the crowd that defense and non-defense discretionary spending represent the two areas politicians are realistically able to cut at the present time.
Other segments of the economy, including Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, were labeled by Carter’s chart as “autopilot spending.” The congressman said these areas, totalling nearly $1.5 trillion combined, must be addressed.
As one example, Carter said he could potentially support raising to 70 the age for receiving full Social Security benefits. “We don’t have to necessarily take any people’s benefits away to start fixing Social Security, but we have to restructure it,” Carter said. “If we just keep kicking the can down the road, we are going to become Greece and there will be no one to bail us out.”
Of course, raising the retirement age to 70 is cutting people’s benefits, and Carter doesn’t seem to understand that. Those are years longer that Americans will have to go before being able to receive their Social Security benefits. Not only is it cruel and wrong but it hurts the economy.
The other thing that Carter doesn’t seem to know that is that left untouched Social Security can pay our 100% of benefits until 2036. After that it won’t be broke, but will still be able to pay out 75% of benefits. There’s a simple fix to make fully fund Social Security for 75 more years, Bernie Sanders Introduces Bill To Lift The Payroll Tax Cap, Ensuring Full Social Security Funding For Nearly 75 Years.
To keep Social Security strong for another 75 years, Sanders’ legislation would apply the same payroll tax already paid by more than nine out of 10 Americans to those with incomes over $250,000 a year. [...] Under Sanders’ legislation, Social Security benefits would be untouched. The system would be fully funded by making the wealthiest Americans pay the same payroll tax already assessed on those with incomes up to $106,800 a year.
Sen. Sanders’ idea appears to be getting out to the town halls this summer, Town Hall Constituents Tell Sen. Grassley To Raise The Payroll Tax Cap: ‘We Want To Have Social Security!’.
Shame on Rep. Carter for not knowing the facts about Social Security, but that’s what Republicans do. They’ve been against Social Security since it was created. But as with most of our country’s economic issues, Social Security can also be fixed if the wealthy and corporations would just start paying their fair share of taxes again.