Cenek Report

The book (PDF format - 2MB) presents a penetrating look at the financing challenges ahead – and some of the various proposals for safeguarding America ’s best-known social welfare program.

The publication seems to be demagoguery-free; and I liked the concise and lucid treatment of our country’s generational “time bomb.”   It also has a very attractive design.

Here are just a few of the interesting tidbits that can be found from cover to cover:

• Retirements benefits replace 41% of the average earner’s pre-retirement income;
• Today three workers contribute for each beneficiary. In 2035, the taxes that two workers pay will not finance the benefits for one recipient;
• The Trust Fund is projected to be depleted in 2040;
• A 13% cut in benefits for current and future recipients solves the financing crisis for the next 75 years; and
• A 2% increase in the payroll tax lets Social Security pay benefits for the next 75 years.

Many of the alternatives for fixing the impending crisis arguably involve income redistribution. The various calls for reform tend to be heavily laden with emotion – and political agendas. Not much will be probably happen until after the next general election. If the White House, House and Senate all go Democratic – as many are predicting – look for passage of legislation having a redistributive bent.