Seeing red over GOP 'Blueprint to Save America' threat to Social Security

Labor contracts set retirement plans and health benefits, but pensions and seniors’ health care are only as strong as unions.

Government’s Social Security is supposed to be for everyone.

For weeks this spring, French people have filled the streets to demonstrate against French President Emmanuel Macron’s proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64.

(In the United States, it was already raised from 65 to 67.)

As unions led the protests, Macron led the effort to raise the retirement age in France (where French workers get guaranteed paid six-week vacations!).

After the November election, when Republicans took a narrow, 222-213 majority of the U.S. House of Representatives, the GOP’s Republican Study Committee issued a plan to hike the retirement age to 70 years old. The 122-page “Blueprint to Save America” describes the idea as “adjusting the retirement age to reflect longevity,” citing accurate data showing people are living longer and the drop in working Americans contributing to the system, but showing too little concern for recipients.

Polls show most French people oppose the change, preferring higher taxes on the super-wealthy and profitable companies to see those segments of society pay their fair share.

Most Americans would agree.

Wouldn’t we?

When Social Security’s retirement age increased from 65 to 67 this year, there seemed to be nary a peep. Regardless whether that was due to less prominent or too vague reporting on the plan; a frustrated public increasingly accepting divided, lousy representation in Washington; coverage overshadowed by other material, or less citizen attention to impartial, timely news stories, losing access to benefits, after paying into the system for decades, may be the final straw.

Social Security Administration officials say in 11 or 12 years the system’s Trust Fund may not be able to pay full benefits to the 66 million-plus retirees who receive benefits.

Raising the retirement age to 70 means people would miss three years of benefits compared to today’s retirees, or opting to claim benefits earlier (which Social Security currently lets retirees do – in exchange for a permanent cut in benefits).

 

Another unstated factor in the GOP calculation is cold: Adding another three years to the retirement age increases the chance people will die before they can claim the benefits they helped underwrite for decades.

 

Of course, boosting the age to claim benefits would lead to hardship, if not poverty, for retirees, disabled workers, and survivors of Social Security recipients, especially for low-income, rural seniors and those who have to stop working due to health issues or to take care of family members.

 

Interestingly, red-state residents would economically suffer more under this Republican plan because American living in states where voters usually elect Republicans tend to have lower life expectancies than people who live in states where residents vote for Democrats. (For example, Alabama and Mississippi have two of the lowest life expectancies in the nation, about 71 years old, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s 2022 “National Vital Statistics Reports.” That compares to California, where the life expectancy is about 84.5 years old.

 

Also, raising the retirement age “would really hurt rural areas, which tend to trend older and be lower income, and they tend to be Republican voters,” said Nancy Altman, president of the advocacy group Social Security Works, speaking with CBS News. “This would add to insecurity and it would add to the retirement income crisis.

 

“Most people don't even work to their full retirement age, much less 70,” Altman said. “This would add to insecurity and it would add to the retirement-income crisis.”

 

There are alternatives to cutting access to retirement benefits in order to strengthen the system, whether Paris or Peoria. In the United States, the government can, first, increase the Social Security tax that’s part of Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA), now 6.2% paid by workers and 6.2% paid by employers. Next, the government can raise the “cap” on income taxed for Social Security (currently $160,200). Today, a multimillionaire pays no more toward Social Security than a taxpayer earning $160,200.

 

The first idea would affect all workers and employers (and be as politically difficult and unpopular as most tax hikes). But the other would affect just 6% of working Americans, according to a Congressional Reearch Service report from last June.

 

Longer life expectancy shouldn’t be bad news, but elected officials can address forthcoming financial needs better than sacrificing everyday retirees or jettisoning government-backed assistant in favor of 401(k) or other private plans without government guarantees.

 

Raising the retirement age is the wrong approach and should be discarded.

“This is an incredibly serious threat,” Altman said.

 

If this “Blueprint to Save America” gains any traction, U.S. unions must rally the rank and file and surpass the inspiring unrest we saw in France.