The Bush administration has signaled that it will propose changing the formula that sets initial Social Security benefit levels, cutting promised benefits by nearly a third in the coming decades, according to several Republicans close to the White House.
Under the proposal, the first-year benefits for retirees would be calculated using inflation rates rather than the rise in wages over a worker's lifetime. Because wages tend to rise considerably faster than inflation, the new formula would stunt the growth of benefits, slowly at first but more quickly by the middle of the century.Cut the benefits now, and they tell everyone their personal accounts will save them. Personal accounts they can't live without, since their benefits have been cut.
And truth be damned, we have a crisis that requires these cuts. What responsible government isn't planning for a possible shortfall 50 years from now?
What I find most interesting in all of this is the different projections for economic growth coming out of this administration. Why didn't they use the 'Social Security' projections for future economic growth when figuring the massive surplus that justified their tax cuts? What happen to those figures?
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