Why Washington cannot find social security middle ground

Social security has been on a downward slope for the last few decades, and it is getting worse as we get halfway into the 2020s. Experts believe the system will fall apart by 2034, and there has been no real concern shared by lawmakers to fix the issue. Following recent reports by Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund, do not expect them to take action anytime soon.

They project that benefit cuts will not start until 2033, giving people some peace of mind. But that is where things start getting trickly, and money starts running very thin. By then, we could see the entire system collapse on itself like a dying star. Given how important social security is to millions of Americans, why can't lawmakers find common ground on the issue?

Social security policy advisor Brenton Smith says part of the reason is that we the people do not have a general idea of what we want fixed.

"Right now, a new poll shows that social security is a top priority of 0.5 percent of people...politicians are not going to push that problem ahead and convince 99 percent of the public they should be working on this," he says.

The bipartisan tango has been going on for years on the subject. Republicans want to keep the program alive by cutting back outrageous government spending, while Democrats want to keep spending everyone to the poor house, taking away a major crutch for people. Ironic, considering they always want to give free money to everyone.

This forecast though is sure to be used by President Biden in his re-election bid, which is laughable considering he has done nothing to boost the program. It will be used as a political game up to the point someone decides to step up.

"Until voters really start to push for a solution, politicians just do not have a reason to push this along," he says.

Politicians have suggested raising the retirement age but cannot do so because the life expectancy has fallen. That is just the wrong premise, because life expectancy at birth just does not work as a statistic. It has gone up over the years due to infant deaths in hospitals, which was much lower some six decades ago.

With no real resolution on the table though, the government faces the old 'rob Peter to pay Paul' scenario.

"In order for retirees to get their checks in 2034, they will have to take from the disability fund...that is not going to happen," he says. "If that is the plan, they need to do it today, they need to be doing this right now. I do not think it is possible. 2033 is the date you need to pay attention to."

He adds that anything like that is nothing more than political noise to say things got better, because they do not want to approach the top of social security.

In short, the government has no reason to fix anything, so there is no middle ground on which to meet. Normally the saying is 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it.' But in this case, they would rather leave it broke because then they might have to do their job.