tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334408760351487944.post538856718192393333..comments2023-11-12T06:43:00.060-05:00Comments on Notes on Social Security Reform: AEI event tomorrow: “More Social Security or Better Social Security?”Andrew G. Biggshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16617460431856611873noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7334408760351487944.post-5822820338865947002014-01-15T12:44:21.501-05:002014-01-15T12:44:21.501-05:00In the more than 40 years I have studied and model...In the more than 40 years I have studied and modeled Social Security I have found no experts. They either try to use linear math projecting expenses or fail to understand the nuances of legislation ie reduction in COLA or the fact that the 1977 OASI formula is a mathematical divergent serires.<br /><br />Experts need to understand that you cannot get something from nothing and that there is no free lunch. Taking from someone else to give to another is not reform, it is theft.<br /><br />"When a person says “We Earned it!” what exactly do they mean?<br /><br />To me, this phrase is a righteous euphemism for making the more truthful statement: "We were snookered by this Social Security Ponzi scheme, and now we are going to snooker the next generation!" <br /><br />If Social Security benefits have been "earned" who is obligated to pay benefits to those who "earned" them? Workers? On a regressive tax basis? Why? Why perpetuate a fraud upon the innocent? Who is responsible for bearing the burden of a fraud? The person defrauded? Or an innocent or unborn child? <br /><br />I do applaud your recognition that the benefits that have been "earned" should be means/affluence tested. But this seems to go against the declared euphemism that benefits have been "earned". And why pay such means/affluence tested Social Security benefits with regressive taxes? What is the rationale for this? Why rob the poor and middle class to pay a need-based benefit to poor and less-well off elderly persons? <br /><br />The only conclusion I can draw is that many people see it as a positive step for our nation to become a two-class society, with a perpetual underclass unable to use their resources to gain class mobility and a perpetual overclass in control of our nation's productive capital. So much for the American dream..."<br /><br />WilliamLarsenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00226403551284640494noreply@blogger.com