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One advantage of advanced age is that when an old story comes around again you recognize it for what it is. In a political year, the story is a fearful one, government doing something terrible like letting Social Security go broke.
I remember attending a dignified presentation at Gainesville College led by two congressmen. They had big graphs to show how fast it was going to happen, and what our options were.
The problem was, and still is, that yes our trust funds could be ruined or saved, depending on what Congress does. What happened that time, and again and again, was that Congress did the right thing. It raised the cap on the salary base that gets taxed. This was a fair approach, everybody contributes, and it worked.
But there is still a problem. The cap that keeps being raised is now at $106,806. Anything above that is free of tax, while anything below is taxed at the same rate. You have to wonder why there is a cap at all. Perhaps the original cap was so low, not many people were affected.
But now the effect is to favor those earning the most.
If you were a millionaire, your wages would be taxed $6,621. On a million-dollar income, that amounts to only a tiny percentage. How nice for the rich. Our congressmen earn more than the cap, and probably always will.
How about the rest of us? Some followers of Wall Street encourage privatization of the fund, like we would all be capitalists then. But what guarantees a good return from stocks? Not this year! Or last year!
Maybe we should tell our congressmen to hang on to the present system but raise the salary cap. The phone number for everybody in Congress is 202-224-3121. Their direct lines are in most newspapers. Let them know we are thinking of them.
Adele Kushner
Alto