Shameful - The Ho Hum Response To Cuts In SSDI.

[Yo_Mama]

104. Republican or Democratic, any rep or sen who isn't looking to raise taxes to fund OASDI

is supporting benefit cuts.

I have more respect for the Republican position at this point than the Democratic position, because Americans will support tax increases to fund these retirement programs. But the problem is that if these tax increases don't happen soon enough, the magnitude of the tax increases required later would throw the economy into a lasting recession and thus be counterproductive.

This is a Congressional Research Service report from last year on the topic:
https://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RL33514.pdf

CBO's last estimate that I know of is that OASDI combined trusts would become insolvent in 2030. The Trustees estimated 2033.

But regardless, simply transferring money from the SS trust fund to the DI trust fund is embracing the cuts in benefits rather than supporting the program. While, in the short term, DI recipients would continue to get full benefits, benefits from both programs would be cut steeply before 2035.

Everyone who is blaming the Rs on this is avoiding the issue. If we wait much longer, raising taxes to cover the deficit won't be possible later.

There is a consensus among the electorate that these programs need to be funded, so now is the time to confront the problem while the cost of doing so is workable. Even now, we cannot raise payroll taxes enough to cover the deficit without causing a recession, so we need to slowly raise payroll taxes somewhat, and then find another revenue stream to cover the balance of the funding deficit.

Note that the problem is worse than it appears, because the trust funds don't have any money in them - the deficit between income and outgo is made up from the general fund, and it won't be sustainable for more than another ten years, it looks like.