Why doesn't anyone talk about raising the cap for social security?

[Jim Lane]

21. This is important. Fixing the economy won't necessarily be enough.

Projecting several decades out is a tricky business, but even before the recession, one scenario showed the depletion of the trust fund sometime in the 2040's. Furthermore, there's no realistic possibility of returning to full employment anytime soon. Obama never even proposed a large enough stimulus to "fix" the economy -- only to reduce the damage.

My prescription:
* eliminate the cap
* allow benefits to rise correspondingly, even if some retired CEO's get five-figure monthly checks
* reduce or eliminate the partial exemption from income tax for Social Security benefits
* adjust the Internal Revenue Code to restore the steeper progressivity that we had 60 years ago

The net result would be that the people getting huge Social Security checks would then have to repay much of the money anyway, just as a consequence of having higher overall income and therefore being able to afford a higher rate. (That's what the progressive income tax is all about.) A progressive structure would also shield the lower-income retirees from any adverse effect.