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Huffington Post Article by Daniel Marans that Hartmann is talking about
Nation’s Largest Seniors Group Is Using Conservative Scare Tactics On Social Security, by Daniel Marans, The Huffington Post, 10/16/16
Subhead: AARP is promoting alarmism about the program and giving awards to Republican lawmakers who want to cut it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/aarp-conservative-social-security_us_57fbe10be4b068ecb5e0d0f3?
...Although there is a heated fight over approaches to reforming Social Security, no one disputes that there is a funding gap in the program that will eventually become a problem. Social Security will not have enough money to pay out its full promised benefits by 2034, mainly due to the retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation, which has already begun.
If the president and Congress fail to reform the program before then ― either by increasing its revenue through tax increases, reducing its benefits or some combination of the two ― an automatic 21-percent cut would go into effect for all beneficiaries.
But context is key. While the funding gap is a problem, it is hardly the crisis many budget hawks ― and AARP’s new ad ― have implied. A few small measures to increase revenue, like lifting or eliminating the cap on taxable earnings, would make it possible to extend Social Security’s solvency for decades without cutting any benefits. (Americans right now only pay Social Security taxes on the first $118,500 they earn.) Comprehensive immigration reform, which would increase the size of the tax-paying workforce, and policies that reduce income inequality, like raising the minimum wage, would also boost Social Security’s finances.
...
Subhead: AARP is promoting alarmism about the program and giving awards to Republican lawmakers who want to cut it.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/aarp-conservative-social-security_us_57fbe10be4b068ecb5e0d0f3?
...Although there is a heated fight over approaches to reforming Social Security, no one disputes that there is a funding gap in the program that will eventually become a problem. Social Security will not have enough money to pay out its full promised benefits by 2034, mainly due to the retirement of the large Baby Boomer generation, which has already begun.
If the president and Congress fail to reform the program before then ― either by increasing its revenue through tax increases, reducing its benefits or some combination of the two ― an automatic 21-percent cut would go into effect for all beneficiaries.
But context is key. While the funding gap is a problem, it is hardly the crisis many budget hawks ― and AARP’s new ad ― have implied. A few small measures to increase revenue, like lifting or eliminating the cap on taxable earnings, would make it possible to extend Social Security’s solvency for decades without cutting any benefits. (Americans right now only pay Social Security taxes on the first $118,500 they earn.) Comprehensive immigration reform, which would increase the size of the tax-paying workforce, and policies that reduce income inequality, like raising the minimum wage, would also boost Social Security’s finances.
...