No, Social Security Is Not the Cause of the National Debt
Fixing Social Security will not shrink the national debt, or even aid in its shrinkage. And that’s not a defense of Social Security.
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Writing by John Tamny and Parkview contributors, from the latest commentary to the collected archive.
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Retirement Is Better Than Ever As Retirees Work Longer Than Ever
U.S. retirees plan to work until they die. Which is a very happy story about the evolution of retirement. The previous truths are seemingly lost on policy writer John Mac Ghlionn.
Whatever We Do, We Must Not Let Congress Reform Social Security
Social Security was a monstrous mistake. That’s paradoxically why it must not be “reformed.” Reform would unleash a spending frenzy from Congress on a series of small mistakes that have the potential…
Social Security Is a Political Concept. There’s No Looming “Insolvency”
There’s no looming “insolvency” for Social Security. Not in 2032, 2052, or 2102. It’s all politics, from both sides. How we know can be found in the fact that there was never a Social Security “lock…
Social Security Was Always Just An Extra Tax. That’s Why It’s Not “Broken”
Maya MacGuineas has been predicting budgetary and Social Security doom for ages. Of course she has. What does she have to lose? If she’s right after having been wrong, she can claim that she was a…
Rising Life Expectancy and Soaring Inequality Signal Beautiful Retirement
The retirement outlook grows better by the day. That’s because we’re living much longer right as wealth inequality is poised to skyrocket. It’s a brilliant combination. For background, Wall Street…
If We Were Eager to Retire, We Would Have a Lot More Savings
Retirement is so last century. It’s the stuff of Bruce Springsteen songs about gallant Americans picking themselves up each morning to do work they can’t stand, but that they do with fantastical…
Even If Social Security Were Going Bankrupt (It’s Not), Retirees Wouldn’t Care
Social Security is not going bankrupt, and by extension benefits won’t be cut. Not now, not in four years, not in forty. The irony in all of this is that existing and future retirees wouldn’t much…
We’ll Never Retire For All the Reasons Elon Musk Thinks We May
Elon Musk predicts that with the proliferation of AI, including his Optimus robots, the people of tomorrow will not have to work if they choose not to. Thanks to the automation of so much of what was…
Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare Protect Us From Much Worse
Experts too easily forget that “government spending” is a benign way of describing central planning of precious resources. Which means it fails repeatedly. Rich as the U.S. presently is, we’re a…
Falling Prices Enable the Savings That Drive Progress
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos can’t realistically spend all the wealth they’ve created. That’s why both epitomize progress. It’s not just that they’ve transformed how we live, it’s that their inability to…
Americans Grasped the Absurdity of Social Security, and Worked Around It
Social Security is no longer the Third Rail of politics. Which is perhaps too bad, though not for the reasons readers might imagine. For now, it’s worth celebrating what’s abundantly true: growing…
Raising the Social Security Retirement Age Would Be a Big Government Mistake
Social Security was a bad, big-government mistake. As argued in The Deficit Delusion, a much worse, much bigger big-government mistake would be to lower its annual cost by pushing the retirement age…
In Retirement, Do You Prefer Exposure to Dollars or People?
“Rather than investing in buildings, I want to invest in the people working in the buildings.” That’s a paraphrase of investor David Bahnsen. Bahnsen’s comment comes to mind when thinking about…
The Democrats Should ‘Rush to China’ On Social Security
Social Security is not going bankrupt, and that’s the problem. It means the politics don’t work for Republicans to pursue Social Security choice. As for the Democrats, what the Republicans can’t do…
Since the Rich Are Overtaxed, Americans Won’t Get to Escape Social Security
It’s a wealth-losing shame of enormous proportions that Social Security will never go insolvent. It will cost the typical American millions in retirement wealth. Yes, the absurdity of the notion that…
$100,000+ State Retirees In Illinois Speak to the Urgency of a SALT Credit
The Illinois Policy Institute’s Brad Weisentein wrote at RealClearMarkets last week that there are at least 32,000 former government workers in the state of Illinois who can claim $100,000+ income…
Soaring Wealth Inequality Is the Greatest Retirement Gift of All
Nvidia’s valuation reached the $4 trillion mark recently, and co-founder Jensen Huang’s shares are now worth something like $143 billion. Present and future retirees should rejoice the rapidly…
Without Billionaires, There Would Be No Medicare and No Debt
Do Bagladesh, Haiti and Peru have Medicare-style programs soon to cost $1 trillion annually? Hopefully the question quickly answers itself. Ideally it also answers Washington Post columnist Catherine…
There’s No ‘Retirement Crisis,’ LeBron James Shows Why
There’s no retirement crisis. Those promoting the notion that Americans don’t have enough money to retire will eventually regret their expressed pessimism. Contemplate the happy fact that LeBron…
Social Security’s Faux ‘Insolvency’ Is a Limited Government Feature
Let’s start with the obvious, now and in the future Social Security payments aren’t remotely imperiled. It’s said here over and over again, but rates saying once again, that the surest sign that…
Not Now, Not In 10 Years, Social Security Isn’t Going Insolvent
Social Security is not going insolvent. Not now, and not in ten years. Write it down and do so confidently. The surest sign insolvency in no way looms in Social Security’s present or future can be…
When Buy-and-Hold Results In Capital Gains Taxes on Retirement
While there’s no evidence that Albert Einstein uttered the quip long associated with him about compound returns as the “8th Wonder of the World,” it’s not unreasonable to imagine the genius wit…
W-2 Earnings and Cash Are Far From the Path to Retirement Wealth
It’s a popular lament on the right that Montgomery (Maryland) and Fairfax (Virginia) are the two richest U.S. counties in an income sense. Each abuts Washington, D.C. Get it? The above question isn’t…