General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Sitting in a restaurant today I realized how much trouble we are in for [View all]sad sally
(2,627 posts)"... such illustrations assume that the full effect of legislation takes place immediately, with no phase-in or lead time. Perhaps even more importantly, the benefit examples assume that legislators would be equally willing to reduce support for current beneficiaries as to restrict the growth of benefits to future participants. In the past, policy makers have been reluctant to significantly reduce the benefits of those who have already begun to collect them. In a practical sense, therefore, changes adversely affecting younger generations are likely to be much more severe than indicated in these simple illustrations. The costs that will be borne by younger generations will grow significantly each year that a new cohort of baby boomers joins the benefit rolls.
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Even in advance of these deliberations, we believe that the essential message conveyed by these reports is clear and will not change, absent legislation: that the vital Social Security and Medicare programs face real and substantial challenges, and that elected officials will best serve the interests of the public if financial corrections are enacted at the earliest practicable time."
(the above is at the end of the report)
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With the new court-drawn congressional maps (which mostly favor R's), it's going to be an uphill fight to pick up the 25-31 seats needed to gain back the majority in the House. There are 23 Democratic Senate seats up and only 10 Republican ones, so they may reduce our majority there.
Even with President Obama serving a second term, without a majority House and a weakened Senate the chance of not tinkering with the program and letting the "payroll holiday" end are slim. The idea that the two parties will work together "immediately" and enact "corrections at the earliest time" are not realistic in the political climate we live in. Besides, it would be seen as a tax hike, not what it really is - the defunding and destruction of the Social Security system.