Atlanta Journal Constitution (October 14)
“Millions of retirees on Social Security will get a 5.9% boost in benefits for 2022. The biggest cost-of-living adjustment in 39 years follows a burst in inflation as the economy struggles to shake off the drag of the coronavirus pandemic.”
Tags: Benefits, Burst, COLA, Coronavirus, Drag, Economy, Inflation, Pandemic, Retirees, Social security, Struggles
Chicago Tribune (November 17)
Despite his “nasty campaign bluster,” elements of Donald Trump’s “economic plan could boost growth and standards of living here and nationwide. This is potentially good news for millions of jobs-starved Americans.” But the devil is in the details. “There are yuuuuge caveats. Trump has not been good on details, he’s a serial exaggerator, and he’s completely out to sea in his insistence that America has the option to unplug from global trade. He also pays little heed to the nation’s $20 trillion debt, the looming threat of Social Security insolvency and Medicare’s unsustainable cost trajectory.” Still, the country could benefit from having someone who’s a “business guy and dealmaker at heart” in the White House.
Tags: Bluster, Campaign, Caveats, Details, Economic plan, Exaggerator, Global trade, Growth, Jobs, Living standards, Medicare, Nasty, Social security, Trump
Washington Post (May 11)
“Older people today seem as healthy as people who were several years younger a few decades ago. So why shouldn’t they work the same way, too?” In the U.S., the eligibility age for full social security benefits is scheduled to increase to 67 over the next decade, but a recent study suggests eligibility could reasonably be moved even higher “to somewhere between 68 and 70.”
Tags: Age, Benefits, Eligibility, Healthy, Old, Retirement, Social security, U.S., Work, Young
Financial Times (September 27)
“It is disappointing that Mr Abe chose last week not to redouble his efforts,” especially on the third arrow of structural reform, “but instead promulgate three newer arrows: ‘strong economy’, ‘support for families’ and ‘social security’. Anything that confuses his original, and clearer message risks undermining its goals.” Moreover, his original program has been working. “Japan is no longer the deflationary outlier — virtually every developed country has seen negative inflation following the recent oil price falls. When this effect is stripped out, Japan’s CPI has been growing at between 0.5 and 1 per cent, well above its previous rate.”
Tags: Abe, CPI, Deflationary, Economy, Families, Japan, Negative inflation, New arrows, Oil, Social security, Structural reform, Undermine
Institutional Investor (July 20)
With social security on track to run dry in the U.S. by 2033, members of Generation X (born from 1965-1981) are taking an overwhelmingly self-reliant view toward retirement: 65% don’t expect any inheritance, pension or social security payments. “Gen Xers’ woes are increasingly shared by Millennials as they age. Like Millennials, Gen Xers tended to marry later and delay having children. Perhaps Gen Xers’ experiences with retirement planning—dominated by the sense that it is an insurmountable task—will serve as a proxy for how the younger and larger Millennial generation will fare.”
Tags: Children, Generation X, Inheritance, Marry, Millennials, Pension, Retirement, Social security, U.S.
Wall Street Journal (June 2)
“As some 75 million baby boomers prepare to retire, immigrants will be crucial to keeping the federal pension program afloat.” Without immigration, the U.S. social security program faces an estimated 75-year social security shortfall of over $8.5 trillion (net present value). “Immigration won’t solve all of Social Security’s financial problems…. But immigrants unquestionably narrow the funding gap. More generous immigration is a wise step toward solving the entitlement crisis in Washington.”
Tags: Baby boomers, Entitlements, Immigrants, Pensions, Retirement, Social security, U.S.
The Economist (September 6)
“The world’s most vibrant economies are shifting gear, away from simply building wealth towards building a welfare state.” Indonesia will become the world’s largest single-payer national health insurance program in 2014 when it provides universal health insurance. China has brought “pension coverage to an additional 240m rural folk, far more than the total number of people covered by Social Security, America’s public-pension system.” And in India pension coverage and a guaranteed work scheme have been extended. “The speed and scale of this shift are mind-boggling.”
Tags: China, Health insurance, India, Indonesia, Pension, Social security, U.S., Welfare state
New York Times (July 7)
The U.S. risks default unless the debt ceiling is raised by early August. Negotiations leave the Times feeling “profoundly uneasy” because “vast changes are being discussed behind closed doors…and on a very tight deadline.” The vast changes include spending cuts for Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, as well as overhauling the tax code.
Tags: Debt ceiling, Medicaid, Medicare, Social security, Spending, Taxes, U.S.
New York Times (June 19)
Most politicians worry about “saving” social security. The best solution might be “raising” it. Social security currently pays out 39% “of the average worker’s preretirement earnings,” but this could be raised to 50%. Why? Nearly 34% of “Americans have nothing saved for retirement — not even a hundred bucks.”
Tags: Retirement, Savings, Social security, U.S.
