Obama Should Keep His Hands Off Social Security

I’m getting worried that Barack Obama wants to cut back on Social Security.

His staffers are being quoted in the paper as wanting to put the issue on the agenda in the next few months.

His rhetoric about the need to reduce the budget deficit, even during the Great Recession, is ominous.

So, too, was his so-called “fiscal responsibility summit meeting” on Monday.

When “fiscal responsibility” is the subject, cutting Social Security is the predicate.

Republicans are trying to lure him into cutting Social Security by saying he could enjoy the bipartisanship that he so craves if he did that.

And his own OMB director, Peter Orszag, is on record favoring the cutting of Social Security benefits for everyone under 55, including a 9% cut for the youngest workers.

Slashing Social Security would be a colossal betrayal.

On the campaign trail, Obama accused McCain of wanting to undermine Social Security. Now he himself may do it.

And it’s a betrayal of the liberal promise going back to the New Deal that once you reach retirement age, you won’t have to worry about meeting your basic human needs.

The kicker is that Social Security isn’t going bankrupt. It’s fully funded until 2041, and could remain so for many more years simply by making the wealthiest Americans kick in their share.

Right now, Social Security taxes stop at $105,000 a year.

“It’s absurd that billionaires are contributing the same amount into Social Security as those who earn $105,000 a year,” Senator Bernie Sanders says.

Obama should lay off Social Security.

Update: In his speech to Congress, Obama again tipped his hand in the threatening direction of Social Security. "To preserve our long-term fiscal health, we must also address the growing costs in Medicare and Social Security," he said. " Comprehensive health care reform is the best way to strengthen Medicare for years to come. And we must also begin a conversation on how to do the same for Social Security, while creating tax-free universal savings accounts for all Americans." Here he hypes a distant and all but nonexistent threat to Social Security and makes it appear imminent. And he is laying the groundwork for proposing cuts. Plus, those universal savings accounts, if they come out of Social Security taxes, will drain the system of the revenues it needs to pay recipients. In essence, he'll be creating a crisis where there is none.