Question: How far would chained CPI extend the life of SS funding?

[cthulu2016]

Serious question.

The current reform proposal is supposed to exude seriousness because "we must do something" but it seems that when one invokes seriousness it kind of demands questions about actual effects... the "seriousness" card implies that we are not talking about a vacant symbol.

Assuming that this proposal is somehow about seriousness, let's get serious.

By how much would this proposal extend the life of Social Security? Does it offer a serious effect?

Having played with the numbers I'm see this proposal extending the life of SS by somewhere between weeks and months... I am not seeing even as much as a year in it.

That suggests that the downside isn't so great... but that the "upside" is fucking with people (in a petty way) as a vacant symbol of ones potential for theatrical cruelty.

I will not pretend that this proposal would literally starve grandma because it doesn't appear, to me, to be very large.

It appears to be symbolic... the quinessense of non-serious... a gratuitous sacrifice of the Democratic brand wrapped in a do-nothing cynical non-fix.

But I am no expert on these matters. Does anyone have a real number, or even claimed number for how long this proposal would extend SS?

[Vincardog]

1. The "trust fund" was invented by St. RayGun to pay for our (the Baby Boomers) retirement.

From the first SS check till the 1980's the benefits were paid out of current contributions.
The economists noticed the Baby Boom bulge was coming and for first time we (the BBs)
were double taxed to pay for our parents and our own retirements.

When the trust fund is used up we were supposed to return to current generations paying for the previous ones' retirement.

The way this works is for each generation to have higher incomes than the previous one.

This does not work when the predator class steals all the economic gains for 30 years.

[sinkingfeeling]

2. About 4 years according to the SSA.