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By Ray Hanania
Buried in a lot of the news over the past few weeks was the announcement that Social Security recipients will see a 20% cut in monthly payments by 2034, predicting the Social Security trust fund will “run out” by 2035.
That’s only 12 years away. What is being done? Nothing.
For those still working, government takes Social Security payments of 6.2% from every paycheck.
What’s happening to that money? Government is absorbing it through expenses, shortfalls and sifting of funds to cover other things like massive salaries for members of Congress, increases pushed by politicians with large, low-income populations to give away money.
Our national politicians only care about one thing: to get re-elected. They depend on senior citizen voters, and yet they do the least for senior citizens. They need seniors so they can stay in office and enjoy huge salaries, massive benefits, and opportunities to profit from their clout in business and investments.
How does Nancy Pelosi go from a modest income family with a degree in Political Science in 1962 and a candidate in 1987 when she was first elected to Congress? Her family had some money, but today she is worth more than $117 million–most of that revenue coming since becoming Speaker of the House.
She’s not the only politician who has turned your vote support into massive profits for themselves. Look at all of them. The Trumps, Clintons, Bushes and Obamas. They hate each other in public over political ideology, but they share one thing: putting themselves above everyone else.
Politicians who need your vote, especially the vote of the seniors (who have a higher vote rate than most other groups in the country), are not wasting their time trying to protect your lifetime investments in Social Security.
There is no reason why the Social Security pension fund should evaporate in 2035 when government and union pensions approved by government and politicians will continue to grow and increase the burden on the American people.
I don’t want to see these union members or pensioners lose their money. What I want to see is the politicians pay as much or more attention on this impending crisis facing America’s senior citizens.
There is only one way to force the national politicians to take the Social Security problem seriously. You have to vote against them. You need to make them feel the pain. You need to vote in a way that throws the political game board into the air to disrupt this faulty political system that exploits you, over-taxes you, profits from your suffering and focuses only on rewarding their cronies and allies.
A lot of seniors will find themselves on the streets, eating dog food if Social Security shuts down.
The answer isn’t to come up with a new system. The answer is to recommit this country to a system that has worked for nearly 90 years.
They increase taxes on everything, except benefits for senior citizens. They will increase sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes and impose all kinds of fees on public services. Look at the symbolism of the massive increases that have hit the costs of annual license plate renewals, increasing nearly 50% in the past few years.
Government pension payments continue to increase because government always takes care of its own.
You are bombarded by tax increases and money being taken out of your income and wages. But, for some reason, you won’t see money increase to prevent the collapse of Social Security. Why? Because very few politicians retire on Social Security. They don’t need it, profiting in so many other ways.
There is a way to prevent the collapse of Social Security, but senior citizens need to stand up and fight. They need to push back against politicians, and stop giving their vote to people who say they support them but don’t. They have to end their “party loyalty” and instead support candidates who make Social Security their “Number One” priority.
Someone needs to start caring for senior citizens, instead of viewing them as a constituency with a short lifespan. We need to change the system.
Seniors should get completely free medical care.
The government should allocate more money to fully fund the Social Security trust fund.
The federal government should end the taxation of all Social Security benefits for seniors who continue to work and earn combined wages and Social Security under $150,000 a year.
Government needs to put an affordable ceiling on prescription drugs for individuals 65 years of age or older.
You, seniors, have the power to make this happen. But you have to stop giving away your vote.
Ray Hanania is a former Chicago City Hall reporter and award-winning columnist. Visit hanania.com for more commentary.