In the process of saving America from various ruins, the fiscal threats are a high priority for Donald Trump as evidenced by the whole DOGE effort. The largest expenditures are off the table though. Of those, the biggest is Social Security. It’s untouchable and for many good reasons. I’ll spare all the normal broad whys and wherefores because I’m only here to suggest a few things that should be touched that aren’t quite part of the untouchable segment, or at least there’s a reasonable chance to pass them off that way. Social Security must remain viable if for no other reason than it represents a contract between the government and the individuals that receive moneys. For a time encompassing almost every living, working adult in the US, the government took part of your paycheck, diverted that sum from your own investment options, and promised to give it back when we were old and needed those savings. It’s not an entitlement, it is a contract trust that’s in danger of being broken.
I cannot quantify the extent and effectiveness of what I propose as that would require the services of a data researcher with a math degree as a salaried day job, or more likely a whole wing of a think-tank; barring that, these ideas are based in intuition and can only have a positive effect. Let that suffice for now.
Put some DOGE savings straight toward social security. DOGE has suggested evidence that one trillion$ of a seven trillion$ overall budget is pure waste and corruption. As that sum is fully identified, a down payment on a social security rescue should be set aside. Remember that the present budget overreach has been an annual occurrence, every year; consequently, a special social security set aside could be made annually, at least for an initial period. I suspect a trillion$ set aside over the four years of Trump’s presidency, properly managed in a similar way that Trump’s proposed Sovereign Wealth Fund would be managed, would make a dramatic improvement to the current looming crisis year of 2035.
Make the social security ‘trust fund’ a real trust fund. Now is a once in a lifetime chance to actually do it. Believe it or not, that’s what it used to be. In addition to a special set-aside from DOGE savings, this year, take 5% of actual payroll social security deductions and put them into that trust fund that would be legally protected from any greedy hands in future Congresses, and structured as a blind and diversified growth fund, like…any other private legal pension fund where the wealth managers are incentivized to perform well. That also keeps that capital working in the economy where it can spur more economic growth. Next year, make the inflow 7% of the withholdings, then 10% and so on. Crazy, impossible, lunacy? Hell no. This could be undertaken while we’re in a DOGE state of mind. Today is a historic opportunity.
Figure out a way to incentivize back door ‘means testing’. Warren Buffet can collect social security. I’m sure he paid in and thus deserves it. Of course he doesn’t need it. Telling just them they should not have it somehow upsets everyone else that are not in the same category of need. Tweak the tax code so that those who can live solely off their investments have at least a slight advantage to ‘voluntarily’ do so. Of course they’d take it becasue the wealthy scramble for every last cent. Once that noise is gone, the cashflow out of a legitimate trust fund would be improved.
Off load some classes of disability to other programs. Social Security benefits have expanded over the years to encompass far more than retirement. Call me skeptical, but it’s way too easy to get classified as disabled. Under Biden, they attempted to expand it as a universal guaranteed income for illegal migrants and that may just be the tip of the iceberg. Make Social Security strictly retirement oriented, strictly for those that made qualified payments over their lifetime and move all unrelated forms of assistance to different programs. Why? Money is money, right? Because in a new program, you can maneuver the qualifications for benefits to reflect medical and other realities that would be demagogued for political purposes if they remain in social security. Cynical yes, but so is the abuse of the system now.
If you’d like to comment on this post, feel free to do so on Twitter. Follow me: @leestanNEreader