Social Security

The Real Problem with Social Security Privatization

by Laurence M. Vance March 17, 2025

Although Social Security is an unconstitutional relic of the New Deal, some libertarians never tire of proposing ways to reform the system. Social Security is properly labeled the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, which provides monthly benefits for retirement, disability, survivorship, and death. Although it was established in 1935, employers and employees did not begin paying Social ...

Three Big Social Security Changes That Should Come in 2025

by Laurence M. Vance September 17, 2024

An article at The Motley Fool that was also posted at Retirely — a financial planning company — about big changes coming to Social Security caught my eye: “3 Big Social Security Changes Coming in 2025 May Surprise Many Americans.” Social Security is the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program that provides ...

Two Payments, More Payments, Higher Payments, or No Payments?

by Laurence M. Vance June 5, 2024

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is often confused with Social Security. Although both programs are administered by the Social Security Administration (SSA), and both programs provide Americans with cash from the federal government, that is where their similarity ends. According to the SSA, the main differences between SSI and Social Security are: Social Security benefits may be ...

What President Biden’s Tax Return Tells Us about Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance May 22, 2024

President Biden has released his latest federal tax return, the one for tax year 2023. He has released the most tax returns of any president in U.S. history. What we are concerned about here, however, is not how much money the president and first lady made or how much they gave to charity but rather how ...

Democrats, Republicans, and Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance January 5, 2024

Social Security recipients received a 3.2 percent increase in their benefits at the beginning of this year thanks to Social Security’s annual cost of living adjustment (COLA). President Biden and his fellow Democrats, and even many conservatives, want them to receive even more money from the U.S. treasury. . Since 1975, Social Security beneficiaries have received cost-of-living ...

Trump’s Big Lie about Medicare and Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance February 21, 2023

In a recent brief video message to his supporters, former president and current 2024 presidential candidate Donald Trump warned Republicans about cutting Medicare or Social Security: Under no circumstances should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security to help pay for Joe Biden’s reckless spending spree. . . . Do not cut ...

The Arbitrary Nature of Social Security Benefits

by Laurence M. Vance November 2, 2022

Social Security benefits will soon be increasing, as they do almost every year, but Social Security taxes will not be increasing, as they haven’t for over 30 years. This shows once again the arbitrary nature of Social Security (OASDI) benefits. The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) part of Social Security provides monthly benefits to retired workers, families of retired workers, ...

Your Social Security Increase Just Might Be Taxed Away

by Laurence M. Vance March 23, 2022

Social Security recipients got a nice benefit increase this year, but according to a report by The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), “Almost half of all households that receive Social Security benefits might pay taxes this year on a portion of their benefits.” This raise and the possible reduction in benefits reveals the true nature of Social ...

Trust Funds: Real and Imaginary

by Laurence M. Vance December 3, 2021

It is interesting that the basic framework of the U.S. unemployment compensation program was first established in the Social Security Act of 1935. Although both programs have trust funds, one is real, and one is imaginary. Due to the COVID-19 “pandemic,” state unemployment programs were stretched to the limit in 2020 and into 2021. Let me briefly explain how these ...

Congress Doesn’t Need to Bail Out Social Security

by Laurence M. Vance October 4, 2021

The Social Security Board of Trustees has released its annual report on the long-term financial status of the Social Security Trust Funds, and it is not looking good. There are actually two parts to Social Security (OASDI). The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) program provides monthly benefits to retired workers, families of retired workers, and survivors of deceased workers. ...

Another Conservative Social Security Reform Plan

by Laurence M. Vance December 15, 2020

Just reading the title is enough to make a libertarian cringe. “How Social Security Reform Could Make a Popular Federal Program Better,” by Rachel Greszler and Ilana Blumsack, was published last month by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that, for almost fifty years, claims to have “advanced the principles of free enterprise, limited government, ...

Should Social Security Be Expanded?

by Laurence M. Vance July 1, 2020

Time is running out for Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security. The Constitution, in Article I, Section 4, mandates that Congress assemble “at least once in every Year.” Each Congress is numbered and lasts two years, with two legislative sessions. The current Congress is the 116th to assemble since the ...