General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Factcheck - on Tax Cut, Social Security and the General Fund. [View all]phleshdef
(11,936 posts)You are treating this arrangement as if its some kind of precedent setting court decision or something of the like, and its not.
I'll say it a thousand times today. This "opening the door to social security" argument is superstitious nonsense.
There is nothing in this arrangement that say Social Security is getting reimbursed based on the proportional size of the general fund. Nothing. The arrangement is that Social Security is getting reimbursed dollar for dollar what it would have received if the 2% payroll tax cut never existed. They can shrink the general fund in half but the law still states that Social Security has to get a full reimbursement. There is no proportional adjustment as your argument alludes to.
As I said to another poster, this imaginary door was already opened a long time ago when they moved money out of Social Security into the general fund, at least this time, its going the other way.
There are good, progressive reasons to use the payroll tax as a vehicle for stimulus during a time like this. The cap on social security payments naturally keeps the benefit of the tax cut in the realm of the middle class. And the nature of the payroll tax system thats already in place makes it an efficient way to distribute this benefit. Its definately not something that should last forever. But while unemployment is over 8% and the Republicans own the house, I think its perfectly acceptable. Its bottom up, demand side stimulus and I'll take all of that I can get until the economy recovers.