That’s why some members of Congress, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, have supported legislation to “Scrap the Cap” on Social Security. This simple tweak would ensure millionaires will pay the same tax rate as middle class families, and eliminate any concerns about Social Security’s long-term financing.

But this tweak would do more than bring Social Security into balance; it would also allow Social Security benefits to be increased and expanded.

Below is a list of suggested improvements to strengthen Social Security benefits and ensure financial security for millions of Americans.

1. Increasing benefits for the lowest income earners.
2. Increasing benefits for surviving spouses. This will help low and moderate-income widows and widowers.
3. Providing family care credits for individuals (mostly women) who leave the work force to take care of family members. Alternatively, we could reduce the calculation of benefits from the highest 35 years of work to the highest 30 years in the workforce.
4. Restore Social Security benefits to young people attending college up to age 22 who suffer the death of a parent or have parents on Social Security. This benefit existed prior to the “reforms” in the 1980s.

Social Security can easily be protected for future generations – and benefits can be strengthened now and into the future – with one small tweak, just scrapping the cap. This simple solution will ensure all Americans are able to provide for themselves in retirement, and preserve the promise of Social Security for our parents, ourselves and out children.

Social Security Card from 1946 (photo: tbcave, flickr)

Via FDL | By Eric Laursen

The dead-end debate over Social Security’s solvency has long stymied any discussion of how to improve the program for its participants. Now may be the time to break that logjam. Here’s a way that progressive lawmakers can help to do so.

Hard as it is to conceive, the last time a significant improvement was made for a broad swath of Social Security participants was almost 30 years ago. Enacted as part of the 1983 Amendment to the Social Security Act, those changes – four modest benefit boosts for widows and divorced spouses – were swamped in the news coverage by the larger effort to keep the program funded. Thus has it been ever since.

The result, tragically, is that the national conversation over Social Security has been bottled up in a never-ending wrangle over how best to “save” the program. If it’s true – per Clausewitz, Jack Dempsey, or Mao Zedong, depending on your source – that “a good offense is the best defense,” then perhaps it’s time for progressive friends of Social Security to go on the offensive.

I tend to dislike military metaphors, but the essence of that adage is that if you can’t win on the front where you’re currently engaged, you should open another front where you can. The facts as to Social Security’s solvency lend plenty of support to those who argue that it doesn’t need to be restructured, privatized, or phased out – that there’s nothing wrong with the program that rising wages, full employment, and a sane national health care system can’t cure.

But even opening that conversation is a loser, since when it comes to government “promises,” most people tend to believe the worst. Better, perhaps, to open a new front in the Social Security wars by demanding long-needed improvements in the program.

Read more from FDL: Demanding the Possible from Social Security

Michael Yee

The turnaround in our local economy that we all wished for in 2011 didn’t occur. If you’re like me, you’re apprehensive about 2012. Cuts to federal, state and city government budgets seem to continually loom over us, affecting our lives one way or another. Politicians and elected officials point fingers at each other and at no meaningful solutions.

I am tired of the droning rhetoric around taxes and eliminating services. But as tired as I am about it all, I know this is when I have to be more diligent. This is when I need to find time to write more. This is when our community needs to be more diligent about community issues by being better informed, working hard and demanding that our voices be heard.

What’s on my International District radar for 2012? Issues that I believe impact our community disproportionately.

Social Security Administration

The Social Security Administration (SSA) plans to close neighborhood offices in the International District and Belltown this spring. A new SSA office would open on the 9th floor of the high-security Jackson Federal Building. The community has already raised strong objections about the barriers to service that would result from the closures.

I understand the needs for cuts at all levels of government. But I object to some of them, when they are made under the guise of efficiency and effectiveness. I’ll spare you my tirade on government waste and bureaucracy. What I will focus on will be preserving and providing equitable access to services. Closure of the ID SSA office will result in the most vulnerable populations suffering disproportionately. Prioritizing by the needs of the majority is not leadership or effective management.

I encourage you to be part of a public meeting about the ID SSA office, to be held on Friday, Jan. 13 at the Chinatown/International District Community Center, located at 719 8th Ave. S., in Seattle from 1:30 – 3 p.m.

The Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle

With little apparent notice to affected communities, the Social Security Administration (SSA) has announced plans to consolidate two local offices into the high-security Jackson Federal Building located on Second Avenue, possibly as early as March of this year. The move could put Social Security benefits out of reach for many vulnerable populations, including those with physical and mental disabilities.

The Social Security offices in Belltown and the International District each serve about 150 people per day, and the SSA says consolidating the two will save money – but community leaders counter that doing so risks harming many people who rely on Social Security benefits.

“People with physical and mental disabilities will be most negatively impacted by this move,” says Alex Doolittle, Executive Director of Seattle Community Law Center. “The Jackson Federal Building is a high-security facility that requires visitors to pass through a security system operated by people in uniform, show current state or federal picture ID, and there is no interpreter assistance available.  These requirements are a burden for people living with disabilities, particularly mental health impairments and those that do not speak English, and they present an impassable barrier to accessing public benefits and information about public benefits.”

During a meeting with some community members in December, SSA officials stated they are “locked into the Federal Building,” and are moving ahead with the relocation/consolidation. But community leaders, many of whom only recently learned of the move, are asking the SSA to slow down – and they question why more effort wasn’t made to solicit input from local communities.

“Many of us only learned about this decision late last year. It really blindsided us,” said Sharyne Shiu Thornton, Deputy Director, Inter*Im Community Development Association. “The Social Security Administration says it mailed 800 letters to local ‘community leaders’ – but many report never receiving such information, and there’s little evidence of any other outreach about this decision to community leaders or community groups, at least in the International District.”

Local leaders have organized a community forum on Friday, January 13 1:30-3:00 p.m., at the International District/Chinatown Community Center, 719 8th Avenue South.

SSA Regional Commissioner Stanley Friendship has been invited to attend. Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn will attend, as will representatives from the offices of Senator Patty Murray and Representative Jim McDermott.

Jacob Lew

By Jacob Lew, President Obama’s Chief of Staff | USA Today:

The budget put forward by President Obama last week is a blueprint for how we can live within our means and win the future. As this begins the budgeting process in Washington, we need to be clear about the causes of the pressing fiscal problems we face. Specifically, looking to the next two decades, Social Security does not cause our deficits.

Social Security benefits are entirely self-financing. They are paid for with payroll taxes collected from workers and their employers throughout their careers. These taxes are placed in a trust fund dedicated to paying benefits owed to current and future beneficiaries.

When more taxes are collected than are needed to pay benefits, funds are converted to Treasury bonds — backed with the full faith and credit of the U.S. government — and are held in reserve for when revenue collected is not enough to pay the benefits due. We have just as much obligation to pay back those bonds with interest as we do to any other bondholders. The trust fund is the backbone of an important compact: that a lifetime of work will ensure dignity in retirement.

According to the most recent report of the independent Social Security Trustees, the trust fund is currently in surplus and growing. Even though Social Security began collecting less in taxes than it paid in benefits in 2010, the trust fund will continue to accrue interest and grow until 2025, and will have adequate resources to pay full benefits for the next 26 years.

For years, the surpluses in the Social Security trust fund have helped to mask our deficits elsewhere. Now that we are paying Social Security back, the problem is not with Social Security, but with the rest of the budget. In 2001 and 2003, Washington cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and later expanded Medicare without paying for it. Blaming Social Security for our fiscal woes is like blaming you for not saving enough in your checking account because the bank lost all depositors’ money.

The problem is not Social Security; the problem is the mismatch between outlays and revenues in the rest of the budget. Closing that gap and paying down our debt will take tough choices, and the president’s budget makes them. Strengthening Social Security is an important, but parallel, issue that needs to be addressed as quickly as possible. But let’s not confuse it as either the cause of or a solution to our short-term fiscal problems.

At its final 2011 coalition meeting, the Social Security Works Washington Coalition adopted priorities for protecting and strengthening Social Security in 2012.

Over the past year, the Coalition successfully fought efforts to weaken Social Security through the application of the chained CPI formula that would reduce the annual cost of living increases and the proposal to raise the age of eligibility. We have been unsuccessful in our efforts to stop the cutting of the payroll deduction that is likely to be extended into 2012.

Also in 2011, the Coalition embarked on an educational campaign and particularly made efforts to reach out to young people with the goal of fighting the propaganda that Social Security will not be there for them when they are ready to retire. Besides releasing the video “Just Scrap the Cap” which has been viewed by more than 63,000 people, we held well-attended educational events at Everett Community College and University of Washington.

At the event at Everett Community College, Rep. Rick Larsen committed to supporting the elimination of the cap when it comes before the House for a vote. We now have that commitment from Rep. McDermott and Rep. Larsen but we can and must do better.

This year, our Congressional allies in the House and the Senate introduced legislation to eliminate the cap on contributions. The 2012 elections will be very important in determining whether this goal can be achieved in the near term.

In 2012, the Social Security Works Coalition – including PSARA – will work to make elimination of the cap a major election issue. We will tie scrapping the cap to the interests of the 99% rather than the 1%, pointing out that the elimination of the cap should result in much needed improvements in Social Security. These improvements include raising the benefits received by low income earners, increasing survivor benefits, restoring funding for child survivors up to age 22 to assist them in paying for higher education and expanding survivor benefits to include domestic partners.

Our local coalition is urging the national campaign, led by the Strengthen Social Security Coalition, to adopt a similar program around the country.

Social Security Works WA will also expand our educational outreach with plans presently in the works for an educational event at Highline Community College in early 2012.

We anticipate further attacks on Social Security and will be responding as necessary.

Be on the look out for “Scrap the Cap” buttons as we work to popularize this effort. Wear them proudly and explain to people when they ask, what we are doing and why!

Great attendance at the forum!

Check out photos from Monday’s event “The Threat to Social Security: An Issue for All Generations” with National Organization for Women President Terry O’Neill, U.S. Congressman Jim McDermott, and former Deputy Secretary of H.U.D. Ron Sims.

They’re up now on Facebook – and don’t forget to”Like” Social Security Works – WA while you’re there!

Click here to view the photos >

No RSVP necessary. Contact us to learn more >

Driving directions to Kane Hall

From I-5 (either direction)

Take the NE 45th Street exit (#169). Turn East onto NE 45th Street.
Continue east about one quarter mile and turn right (south) onto 15th Avenue NE.
Head south on 15th Avenue three blocks to NE 41st Street.
Turn left at Gate #1 into the Central Plaza Garage.
Stop at the gatehouse inside the garage for directions and a parking permit.

From Hwy 520 (either direction)

Take the Montlake Blvd exit.
Turn north onto Montlake Blvd.
Just after the Montlake bridge, turn first left onto Pacific.
Past the hospital, turn right (north) onto 15th Avenue NE.
Head north on 15th Avenue to NE 41st Street.
Turn right at Gate #1 into the Central Plaza Garage.
Stop at the gatehouse inside the garage for directions and a parking permit.

Don’t think Social Security cuts affect you? Think again. Because if Social Security is cut, your parents might be movin’ in.

Here’s the deal: right now, everyone pays Social Security taxes on the first $106,800 they earn, which means most people pay Social Security taxes on their whole paycheck. But since $106,800 is the cap (unless Congress acts to change it), a whole lot of wealthy people don’t pay a dime in Social Security taxes on most of what they make… Learn more »

Tell Congress: Don’t cut Social Security – Just Scrap the Cap »