The myth of making Social Security more "Progressive"

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TruthOut

Family Friendly Cuts to Social Security: The Myth of Affluence Testing
Monday 17 May 2010

by: Dean Baker

Billionaire Wall Street investment banker Peter Peterson has come up with a focus group tested term for his plan to cut Social Security. He calls it "affluence testing." The idea is that we will just cut Social Security benefits for wealthy people like Peterson who don't need their Social Security. We won't touch benefits for ordinary working people.

That's a great story. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with the debate over cutting Social Security. The problem with the Peterson story is there are very few wealthy elderly. We can zero out the benefits for Peterson and his wealthy friends and nothing in the Social Security accounts would change. Social Security's maximum benefits are just a bit over $30,000. Taking away $30,000 from a few thousand families makes no measurable difference in a program that spends $700 billion a year.

The Rest: http://www.truth-out.org/family-friendly-cuts-social-security-the-myth-affluence-testing59556