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Reform Thursday: Week Ten.

Thursdays are good days for reform, because they fall between Wednesdays and Fridays.

That's why WILLisms.com will display a chart or graph, every Thursday, pertinent to Social Security reform. The graphics are mostly self-explanatory, but we include commentary on some of them where and when necessary.

This week's graphic, like last week's, comes to us from the left-wing Economic Policy Institute:

Click image for original.

The Economic Policy Institute opposes Social Security reform, yet it doesn't seem to realize that the above graphic actually makes the "social safety net" case (a favorite professed concern of the left) for why Social Security needs reform.

EPI points out how crucial Social Security is for seniors:

Social Security benefits are the most important source of income for the majority of elderly households. Although these benefits are modest, they account for a large portion of income for many elderly households.

Philosophical issues related to America's unfortunate dependence on government aside, without reform, those benefits will be slashed dramatically by the time the WILLisms.com generation retires-- unless we reform the system, and soon.

Guaranteed.

Meanwhile, a recent survey indicated that many of those same younger workers who will face dramatically slashed benefits are not saving for their own retirement:


Click for original (.pdf).

So, let's get this straight.

1. Many Americans depend on Social Security for their retirement income.

2. Nearly 3-out-of-10 Americans under 55 say they not saving anything for their own retirement outside of Social Security.

3. Social Security will not be able to pay out those benefits (which EPI calls "modest," to begin with) for younger workers. Benefits will be slashed by a quarter (or more, according to EPI's own figures, which we noted last week) for those born in the 1970s and beyond.

4. Yet, EPI opposes reform to fix Social Security. Instead, they assert:

Social Security is not going broke. The trustees instead project a financing shortfall that may happen almost 40 years from now.

Hilarious.

So, it's "not going broke." There's just a "financing shortfall" sometime long in the future. And, we don't need to worry about that pesky future.

This is the kind of warped logic we see coming from these "radical status quo," anti-reform groups. When left-wing groups like EPI put out these "fact sheets," they can't help but display a persistent and dogmatic adherence to a decades-old ideology.

Bottom line:

We need to reform Social Security now.

Without reform, millions of today's younger workers will face drastic and guaranteed cuts to their already modest retirement incomes.

There are many reasons to reform Social Security, but the fact that so many Americans have become so dependent on it for their retirement income is one of the more compelling reasons for reform.

Previous Reform Thursday graphics can be seen here:

-Week One.

-Week Two.

-Week Three.

-Week Three, bonus.

-Week Four.

-Week Five.

-Week Six.

-Week Six, bonus.

-Week Seven.

-Week Seven, bonus.

-Week Eight.

-Week Nine.

Tune into WILLisms.com each Thursday for more important graphical data supporting Social Security reform.

Posted by Will Franklin · 7 April 2005 11:43 AM

Comments

Posted by: Zsa Zsa at April 7, 2005 12:27 PM

Posted by: Taffy at April 7, 2005 01:20 PM

Posted by: Linda at April 7, 2005 03:32 PM