Social Security

Social Security Is More than Unsustainable

by Laurence M. Vance September 28, 2018

It seems that Russia is having the same problem as the United States when it comes to its government retirement system: the system is unsustainable because the number of retirees receiving benefits is growing faster than the number of workers supporting the system. Soon after his inauguration for a fourth term as president of Russia, Vladimir Putin spoke about his ...

The Libertarian Angle: Abolish Social Security

by Future of Freedom Foundation August 22, 2018

Social Security is theft. There is no trust fund. You have no rights to the money funding it. It is simply a transfer mechanism to get money from the young to the old. FFF president Jacob G. Hornberger and Richard Ebeling discuss. Go to the podcast.

A Divergent Convergence of Epic Proportions

by Laurence M. Vance June 6, 2018

Social Security is in dire straits. Payroll tax increases and benefit cuts are on the horizon. According to the latest annual report by the Social Security Board of Trustees (“The 2017 Annual Report of the Board of Trustees of the Federal Old-Age and Survivors Insurance and Federal Disability Insurance Trust Funds”), Social Security’s combined trust funds face ...

The Libertarian Angle: The Socialism of Social Security (video)

by Future of Freedom Foundation April 24, 2018

What works better--socialism or the free market? Jacob Hornberger and Richard Ebeling apply libertarian principles to Social Security. Go to the podcast.

COLAs Reveal the True Nature of Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance October 22, 2015

The more than 63 million Americans who receive Social Security retirement, disability, survivorship, or death benefits will not be getting a Christmas gift later this year from the Social Security Administration. Although those Americans have come to expect a cost-of-living adjustment (a COLA) to their Social Security benefits at the beginning of every new year, no such increase (there ...

Social Security Has Not Changed

by Laurence M. Vance February 18, 2014

The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) is touting the changes to Social Security for 2014. Instituted during the New Deal, Social Security, a federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, provides monthly benefits for retirement, disability, survivorship, and death to about 57 million Americans, including survivors and dependents. Social Security is “funded” by a payroll tax deduction ...

The Problem with Conservative Plans to Save Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance September 24, 2012

The largest expenditure of the federal government is Social Security. According to the most recent annual report of the Social Security Board of Trustees, in 2011 $725 billion in Social Security benefits were paid to 55 million Americans, plus other expenses of $11 billion. The three major entitlement programs — Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid — account for almost half ...

Should Social Security Be Saved?

by Laurence M. Vance July 18, 2011

Speaking at a conference for a finance trade association in Chicago, former President George W. Bush said that the biggest failure of his administration was not privatizing Social Security. In 2001 the President’s Commission to Strengthen Social Security was formed. This bipartisan, 16-member commission issued a report that included three reform proposals, all of which allowed workers to voluntarily transfer ...

FDR’s Social Security Paradox

by Jim Powell April 30, 2009

If Social Security is so wonderful, why were people forced to participate, why was it set up as a monopoly, and why did it dump ever-larger costs onto the backs of future generations? There never was a popular demand for Social Security, even during the Great Depression. Few Americans were ...

Social Security Demeans Workers

by Sheldon Richman May 13, 2005

We can thank President Bush for reminding us that Social Security is not a pension or insurance plan but a welfare program. He did that recently when he proposed changing the benefit structure to favor (even more) low-income retirees at the expense of the “better off.” Whether this ...

Why Save Social Security? Revisited

by Jacob G. Hornberger March 18, 2005

My article “Why Save Social Security?” generated so much email, both pro and con, that I thought I would share some of the comments with you, along with my response to some of the points made by them. Email supporting repeal “Please continue this attack to eliminate this ...

Social Security’s Malign Premise

by Sheldon Richman March 18, 2005

Take note of the sheer panic displayed by the left-socialist opponents of President Bush’s Social Security proposal. We can divine some significant information from that reaction. The president’s suggestion (no detailed proposal has been offered yet) would not give individuals anything like the control over their own incomes ...