Subject: Comment About Ron Gebhardtsbauer's Position Paper
Ron
I think your paper makes several excellent points.
>>>>No painless options: No option for solving Social Security's financial problems is painless. Even privatization requires increased taxes or benefit cuts.
Many posters are implying that their solution is quick and painless. Usually this just means that they are hiding all the uncomfortable details.
>>>>Two Federal agencies already invest in stocks (Fed TSP & PBGC).
Although many think that this is impossible or 'dangerous' for the gov't to do, it is indeed already doing so without the problems many claim we will have. It is not a panacea, but could be useful in some limited way in some plans.
>>>>Means Test - large benefit reductions for retirees with incomes over a certain threshold (Concord Coalition suggested $40,000 in the early 1990s, but I get the sense that people had a much higher threshold in mind). Note: A means test can discourage saving and encourage abuse. It would change Social Security from a popular universal program into welfare.
Look at the abuse we have in Medicaid nursing home benefits. Not saying means-testing can't be part of the solution, but it brings along a whole bunch of administrative headaches and disincentives.
>>>>1- Raise the retirement age to 70 by 2030 and keep adjusting the age as people live longer...Could be hard on people with physically demanding jobs or who are partially disabled; employers may not want an older workforce with associated higher health care costs.
We almost need to keep the option for a retirement in the early sixties for some people. And we can't completely overlook how this whole issue interacts with the issue of medical care.
