Washington Post accuses Obama and Democrats of pandering on Social Security [feedly]

Washington Post accuses Obama and Democrats of pandering on Social Security
http://www.epi.org/blog/washington-post-accuses-obama-and-democrats-of-pandering-on-social-security/

The Washington Post's editorial board has been arguing for Social Security benefit cuts for years, so their negative reaction to the president's call to expand the program should come as no surprise. Still, readers might wonder about some of the claims made in the editorial: first, that the wealthy would benefit most from across-the-board expansion plans and we should instead help the "very poorest," second, that American seniors are better off than working-age adults and have higher incomes than their counterparts in other advanced economies, and finally, that we have better things to do with the limited tax revenues we might be able to wring from the wealthy.

Social Security is a through-the-looking-glass policy world, where progressives are constantly pushing back against conservatives who claim to want to focus on the poor. But the claim by conservatives that we should narrowly tailor Social Security to provide help to the poorest seniors sets up a destructive false choice. Social Security became the most effective antipoverty program precisely because it is social insurance and not simply a safety net program. We already have a means-tested old-age program—SSI—and it iswoefully inadequate. You'll get no argument from progressives on the need to increase SSI benefits, so ask yourself why conservatives want to make Social Security more like SSI.

Is it wasteful to expand a universal program that's unambiguously progressive but not narrowly targeted on the poor? No. First, it's important to understand that almost everyone, not just low earners, would better off if we expanded Social Security. Since the decline in traditional defined benefit pensions even many high earners—though maybe not those in Mitt Romney's income class—could use more secure retirement and disability benefits. But for most people, Social Security only replaces less than half of pre-retirement earnings. It's an efficient program with very low administrative costs. Instead of expanding it, however, we cut Social Security benefits in 1983, just as disastrous 401(k) plans came on the scene.

 -- via my feedly newsfeed