New NCPSSM poll shows strong opposition to a key GOP proposal for Social Security. Raising the Social Security retirement age to 69 amounts to a benefit cut for all seniors. Congress should listen to the voters on this one.
More information on the poll here.
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It’s no secret that American workers face a major retirement crisis. Wealth inequality and workplace changes mean more and more retirees have come to rely on Social Security for most of their income. But the average monthly Social Security benefit in Maryland is $1,472 — or roughly $18,000 per year, which is only slightly above the federal poverty line. And even with Social Security, some 7 percent of Maryland’s seniors live in poverty.
The good news is that Maryland workers can increase the size of their future Social Security checks by delaying retirement. Delayed claiming past the early retirement age of 62 results in bigger monthly benefit checks for life, and waiting until after the current full retirement age of 66 yields even greater gains — up to 44 percent more than early claiming.
But too few Marylanders are taking advantage of this “delay-and-gain” strategy, or are even aware of it. The average age for claiming Social Security in Maryland is 64 — two years older than the minimum, but early enough to be penalized with lower benefits, which are cut by roughly 6 percent for every year that they file for Social Security before the full retirement age.
Read our full op-ed by clicking here.
Lumping Social Security and Medicare together and calling them ‘entitlements’ is also telling. These are earned benefits, not entitlements, which American workers have contributed to throughout their working lives. Conservatives have long used the word 'entitlements’ to make those earned benefits seem like welfare.
via Entitled to Know.
Workers in Louisville face a major — and very real — retirement crisis. Wealth inequality and workplace changes have practically sawed off two of the legs of the traditional retirement stool: pensions and private savings.
More than half of today’s retirees rely on the third leg of the stool, Social Security, for most of their income. (The average Social Security benefit in Kentucky is roughly $16,000 per year, only about $3,500 above the federal poverty line for individuals.) Even with Social Security, some 13% of Kentucky seniors live in poverty. The good news is that workers can increase the size of their future Social Security checks by delaying retirement.
Read more from our new op-ed by clicking here.
Retirement, Social Security and long-term care:
Amid doubts about the soundness of the Social Security system, most Americans reject the idea of reducing benefits for future retirees. When asked to think about the long-term future of Social Security, only 25% say some reductions in benefits for future retirees will need to be made, while 74% say benefits should not be reduced in any way.
via Pew Research.
Related Reading:
We believe Social Security benefits should be BOOSTED for all working Americans.
Sign our petition asking Congress to BOOST Social Security benefits for all working Americans by clicking here.
Social Security is the most important retirement benefit for most American workers - it provides at least half of the income for 48 percent of retired couples, and for 71 percent of single seniors, according to the Social Security Administration. Also, Social Security benefits kept 22.1 million seniors, working-age adults and children out of poverty in 2015 according to an analysis of Census data released this week by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
via REUTERS.
Related Reading:
And Congress should BOOST Social Security benefits for all working Americans.
Workers in Detroit face a major — and very real — retirement crisis. Wealth inequality and workplace changes have practically sawed-off two of the legs of the traditional retirement stool: pensions and private savings. More than half of today’s retirees rely on the third leg of the stool, Social Security, for most of their income. Even with Social Security, some 7% of Michigan seniors live in poverty. The good news is that workers can increase the size of their future Social Security checks by delaying retirement.
Delayed claiming past the early retirement age of 62 results in bigger monthly benefit checks for life. Waiting until after the current full retirement age of 66 yields even greater gains — up to 44% more than early claiming. But too few of Detroit’s workers are taking advantage of this delay-and-gain strategy. More than half of Michigan workers retire by age 62 — four years before they can collect their full Social Security benefits.
Read more from our op-ed by clicking here.
For years, seniors have told us that they need their Social Security benefits boosted. They want fairer cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) that reflect retirees’ true living expenses. They say it’s time for the wealthy to start paying their fair share in Social Security payroll contributions. Congressman John Larson’s Social Security 2100 Act would achieve all of that – and more.
The bill would keep the system solvent for nearly the rest of this century while modestly boosting benefits – and cutting taxes for retirees. Not only do seniors and advocates support this bill, the American public has affirmed the proposals that it embodies in poll after poll, across party lines and age groups.
Read more from this blog post by clicking here.
Deficit hawks likely will pressure the White House to accept cuts in Social Security and Medicare for future retirees, protecting those already retired or close to it. Their political goal will be to defang public opposition, since younger workers tend not to focus much on retirement when it is several decades away.
But that approach is not going to work. Retirees and their advocacy groups will fiercely resist cutting benefits down the road, because they understand the critical importance of Social Security and Medicare benefits. They also care about the future retirement of their own children. And numerous polls show that the public opposes benefit cuts - a view that is common across all demographic groups and political affiliations.
via Reuters.
Related Reading:
- New Poll Shows Majorities Do Not Support GOP Proposals for Social Security and Medicare.
- In the poll of likely voters, 79% favor increasing Social Security
benefits — and funding that increase by having wealthy Americans pay
the same rate into Social Security as everyone else. Seventy-seven
percent oppose raising the Social Security retirement age to 69, and a
whopping 93% favor allowing Medicare to negotiate to bring down the
price of prescription drugs.
Given Social Security’s importance to all Americans, you can imagine my surprise that none of the moderators in the first two rounds of Democratic debates asked a single question about it. Our nation faces a retirement crisis, with savings rates plummeting, pensions vanishing, and expenses in old-age soaring. 63 million Americans rely on Social Security today for basic financial stability, yet conservatives propose to cut future benefits. The father of Social Security is one of the most revered Democratic presidents. And yet not a single mention of the program during the first two sets of primary debates by the party of Franklin Roosevelt?
Many in the news media have bought into the narrative that “no one in Washington wants to talk about Social Security” because it is a politically sensitive issue. Maybe that’s one reason why they don’t ask the question during debates. This narrative holds that neither party is willing to address Social Security’s long-term future. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Democrats in Congress, including Representative John Larson (D-Conn.) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), have introduced legislation that maintains the program’s financial health for as long as most of us on earth today are likely to be alive. They achieve this mainly by insisting that the wealthy pay their fair share of Social Security payroll taxes. Congressman Larson’s bill, which has 210 cosponsors in the House, also expands benefits – and both bills provide for a more accurate and generous cost of living adjustment formula.
Read more from this new blog post by clicking here.
Investment in home and community-based care is popular and must be included in #infrastructure. Now it’s up to Congress to get it done. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/04/opinion/elder-care-congress.html #HCBS @nytimes