Securing Social Security
A promise we can keep — with one honest fix.
Social Security is one of the great promises America makes to its people: work your whole life, and you won’t be left with nothing in old age. Tens of millions of seniors rely on it today, and every working American is paying in on the expectation that it will be there for them too.
That promise is now at risk — and we refuse to let it break.
Why it’s in trouble
The shortfall isn’t a mystery, and it isn’t because seniors are taking too much. It comes down to how the program is funded:
- The contribution stops partway up. The payroll tax that funds Social Security only applies to wages up to a yearly cap. Earn under the cap and you pay on every dollar; earn far above it and you stop contributing partway through the year.
- Whole categories of income don’t count at all. The tax falls on ordinary wages — not on the other forms of compensation through which the highest earners receive much of their income.
- Fewer workers per retiree. As the population ages, there are fewer people paying in for each person drawing benefits.
Put together, the math falls short within roughly the next decade — which would mean automatic benefit cuts for people who paid in for a lifetime. That’s unacceptable.
The simple fix
There’s a straightforward way to secure it:
Lift the cap, and apply the contribution to all income — not just the first slice of ordinary wages.
This is the honest version of the fix. It isn’t only about removing the wage cap; it’s about making sure all income contributes its fair share. When it does, the program becomes solvent for the long haul — which means:
- No benefit cuts. The promise is kept in full.
- No raising the retirement age. It stays where it is.
- No gimmicks. Just everyone paying in on what they actually earn.
It asks the most from those most able to give, protects everyone who’s counting on the program, and keeps faith with the workers who built it.
A dividend when we’re whole
Done right, this fix can do more than break even. In years when the program runs a healthy surplus — and once we’ve stopped drowning in national debt — that surplus can be returned to retirees, scaled to a lifetime of work. Security first; and when we’re on solid ground, a little reward for the people who spent their lives contributing.
Why we care
A country as prosperous as ours shouldn’t have seniors falling into poverty after a lifetime of work. Insurance only works when everyone pays in — and Social Security is the insurance we all share. Securing it isn’t a partisan project. It’s a promise between generations, and we intend to keep it.
The full reasoning and the numbers behind this are laid out in Righting the Ship.