Social Security fears
To the editor:
Americans are rightly worried about their Social Security. On one hand, DOGE has been hacking away at the Social Security Administration with a plethora of cuts and changes to the federal agency and Trump even hints on changing the program’s future. I think that the Democrats with a little help from the Republicans that are not transfixed in the MAGA movement, will see to it that this program is preserved. If they can’t stop him, I think that 70 million American retirees and millions of Americans about to retire can change Trump and Musk’s direction if they band together.
So now we look to the other major issue plaguing Social Security; will Social Security run out of money? According to the 2024 annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees, the surplus in the trust funds that disburse retirement, disability, and other Social Security benefits will be depleted by 2035. Without congressional intervention, retirees would only be able to receive 83% of their full benefits. You then, can clearly predict that this percentage will decline rapidly thereafter.
Congress has attempted to apply several bandages to the hemorrhaging Social Security coffers. One of them, was applied in 1983 when Congress passed the law to raise the full retirement age from 65 to 67 because people are living longer. Another, which has actually been a set of bandages, is that Congress raised the CAP (the maximum amount of earnings subject to Social Security tax) several times. In 1950 and earlier, the tax cap was $3,000. In 1990, it was $51,300. In 2022, it was raised to $147,000, In 2024 it was raised to $168,600, and for 2025, the cap has been raised to $176,100. This seems to be an on-going Band-Aid, rather than a true fix.
Congress is on the right track, but has not been aggressive enough to actually solve the problem. The issue with their incremental CAP adjustment is that it continues to put the burden of making Social Security solvent on the working- and middle-class Americans. Simply removing the CAP would start bringing in additional funds from the Upper Class and the Rich. Today, employees across the board, pay 6.2% of their salary up to the CAP into Social Security, with the Employer paying an additional 6.2% of the Employees salary up to the CAP.
Based on the US Bureau of Labor numbers, you can see what each level of Americans actually pay to SS:
Working class – % of populations = 35%, income $24k to $75k, % paid to SS = 6.2%
Middle class – % of population = 32%, income $75k to $120k, % paid to SS = 6.2%
Upper class – % of population = 20%, income $121k to $431k, % paid to SS = 6.2% to as low as 2.5%
Top 10% class – % of population = 1%, income > $431k, % paid to SS = 2.5% to less than .004%
This highlights that the working- and middle-class Americans are carrying the burden of keeping the Social Security funded. If Congress, who unfortunately is mainly made up of millionaires would take on the bold stand and cut the CAP so that the high earning Upper class and the Top 10% rich class would pay 6.2% of their total earnings, the entire Social Security coffers would be filled and this problem would be resolved.
One should be aware, that all Americans that have contributed to Social Security qualify to receive Social Security when they reach the defined retirement age. That means the millionaires, who really don’t need Social Security can get the same payment as the person who made $176,100 per year for their last five years when they retired.
The Maximum Social Security benefit based on 2024 qualifications, that one can receive is:
Full retirement age in 2024, the maximum benefit was $3822 per month
Age 62 in 2024, the maximum benefit was $2710 per month
Age 70 in 2024, the maximum benefit was $4873 per month.
I would suggest keeping the Maximum Social Security benefit payout as it is currently defined as it is adjusted annually based on changes to the national average wage index.
With this simple change of removing the CAP on earnings, the high earning Upper Class and the Top 10% rich class will then pay their fair share to Social Security, and our Social Security solvency issue is resolved.
Americans need to give our Republican and Democratic representatives feedback on Social Security, telling them to “CUT the CAP” but, because it will impact the rich, and Congress has not in general wanted to go down this path, we need 70 million Americans to stand up and make Congress act on what Americans want.
Ronald Swan
Cape Coral