The American President and Congressional Leaders Are Procrastinators

In a recent blog, I discussed how the American public largely opposes military conflict unless there is a clear demonstrated existential threat to the United States; clear objectives to be achieved by the military conflict; and a timely conclusion for the military conflict. In summary, the American people are reluctant to support military conflict and are impatient until it is concluded. Some might even describe the attitude of the American people as one of procrastination. In this week’s blog, I want to discuss the procrastination of the President and American Congressional leaders in dealing with the upcoming short fall in the Social Security Trust Fund.

There is little debate that the Social Security Trust Fund will face a significant funding crisis in the early 2030s, if not sooner. Unless remedial steps are taken before that time, Social Security benefits will be required to be significantly reduced for current recipients. So, if there is no disagreement regarding the current funding crisis, why have steps not been taken by the President and Congressional leaders to address this issue? The simple answer is that Social Security is a political “hot potato” and neither political party is eager to deal with the issue before it is required to do so.

But this political impasse on addressing the Social Security funding crisis has not always been the case for the President and Congress. A similar funding crisis for Social Security existed in the early 1980s. Even then it was an incredibly sensitive issue which neither President Ronald Reagan nor Congressional leaders wished to mishandle in a political deleterious way. With this realization in mind, President Reagan appointed a blue-ribbon commission {National Commission on Social Security Reform a/k/a Greenspan Commission} chaired by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan which included Congressional leaders of both parties, respected business and labor leaders, and leaders from public policy organizations. Following the work and recommendations by this commission, Congress passed legislation signed by President Reagan in 1983 which, among other things, gradually increased the full retirement age for Social Security from 65 to 67; taxed up to 50% of Social Security benefits for high income individuals; covered newly hired federal workers under social security; and increased payroll tax revenues.

The social security reform legislation enacted in 1983 temporarily secured the financial solvency of social security for decades, but the “wolf” is once again at the door. How will the social security funding crisis be addressed by the U.S. President and Congress as the crisis worsens each year?  Given the political dynamics of Social Security and the default approach to procrastinate until the very last minute, I hope that the approach followed by President Reagan will also be followed once again by the President and Congress. No solution will be perfect, and no solution will be popular with all of the American people. But if the American people believe that the solution was developed in good faith with the goal of protecting the financial well-being of the American people, the solution will likely be accepted just as it was in the early 1980s.

The real question is whether the current political polarization and toxicity can be overcome in a way that would even allow the formation of a commission like the Greenspan Commission so it can do its work and submit a recommended solution to be considered by the President and Congress. Hopefully, this can be done, but I would be pleasantly surprised if it is done any sooner than the proverbial “last minute!”

God bless you and thank you for the privilege of your time in reading my blog.