information and education. >> Thank you.
the solvency of Social Security forecasts, the retirement and
disability programs will be involved in 2035. It's not that
the program won't have money to pay any benefits, but it's when
the Social Security Trust Fund reserves of $2.78 trillion will
be depleted. What that means is that without action by Congress,
the program will only have enough money in 2035 to pay 83%
of benefits, not 100. Now, that eventuality has advocates for
seniors sounding the alarm. Alex Brower is executive director of
the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans. He joins us
now. Thanks a lot for being here.
having me, Frederica. I appreciate it.
of retirement age in 2035 and beyond, the prospect of paying
into Social Security for their whole working lives and not
getting their full benefit seems unfair to.
>> It's completely unfair. Honestly we believe that. And
actually the Wisconsin Alliance and other advocacy
not only should people receive the benefits they're entitled
to, but they should be receiving more benefits and that Social
Security should be expanded and the agency modernized and remain
solvent for decades and decades to come.
>> And so you believe that current beneficiaries should be
receiving more in their Social Security benefits?
>> That's correct. Yeah. Organization is supporting a
bill in Congress right now, the Social Security Fairness Act
that's been introduced by Senator Sanders and Elizabeth
Warren, that actually expands by $200 per month benefits received
to benefit Ceres and also protects the solvency of Social
Security by eliminating something called the
contribution and benefits base, which is basically the cap on
which income is taxed for Social Security purposes. To have the
richest Americans pay their fair share to help keep the program
solvent. effectively become a tax
increase, though? And how well would that go over?
>> Well, it is what we're advocating for. Yes, it will
increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans who we, need to have
who need to contribute more to pay their fair share. Basically,
millionaires and billionaires in this country exist because of
all the work that we've all done to contribute to their success.
Right? Everybody buys something on Amazon or on Walmart or any
of the department stores and our roads that we pay for with taxes
contribute to the millionaires and billionaires being able to
get their goods to people's homes. So no millionaire or
billionaire is created in a vacuum. And so those individuals
owe to our collective success. And that means that everybody
who is a worker currently has a full and dignified retirement,
so we are asking, yes, we are asking the richest Americans to
pay their fair share. But really , it's pennies compared to the
wealth that we've created for them by being American
consumers, because that cap on the withdrawal of kind of FICA
taxes is $168,000 is added. >> Anything over that those
people do not pay in? >> That's correct. Yeah. So when
you receive a paycheck like your like your viewers are know when
you receive a paycheck, there's a line called FICA and that
contribution that deduction stops at $168,600. So if you
make more than that, you don't receive a FICA tax on that
money. So it's pretty much a regressive income tax where the
poorest Americans, pay 100% of their income is taxed for that.
And then the richest Americans don't. The Social Security
Fairness Act, keeps that cap in place, but raises it and lifts
it for those making above $400,000 a year. So we know
there are also discussions of raising the retirement age to
shore up the program. >> And that's been done once. I
understand. But doesn't that effectively short people also?
>> That is correct. Yeah. And there's a study that just came
out that showed that actually the raising of the retirement
age back in the 80s and the Reagan presidency actually
shortened the life expectancy of seniors. So not only does that
limit the number of years they're eligible to receive
benefits, but it actually limits their life expectancy, because,
as we all know, you know, there's a point in your life
when you should be able to rest and retire from working, right?
And that is and that is a right that every American should have,
no matter what kind of job they had or what profession they
worked in. We think everybody is eligible and do that. So raising
the retirement age would only hurt retired Americans and
senior Americans. >> How important is Social
Security to the majority of retirees, including all of those
in Wisconsin? >> Extremely important, every
single retiree that I personally know depends on their Social
Security check every single month and every retired American
who's a member of the Wisconsin Alliance for Retired Americans,
depends on it fully. It drives our economy. It's what keeps so
many seniors out of poverty. We're arguing that Social
Security is one of the largest anti-poverty programs that's
States, we have a lot of choices in this country. I mean, all of
this is a political choice, right? We could choose to roll
back the clock and go back to the days before Social Security
existed. But we would have seniors in poverty living on the
streets. And we don't want that. We want everybody who's worked
hard and contributed to this country to live a full and
dignified retirement. >> Alex Brower, thanks very