Pinned
With Social Security reform back in the news, I've been sending out more links to my chapter in @AEI's new book, American Renewal. I promise it's different from the usual stuff on fixing Social Security.
Andrew G. Biggs
22K posts
Andrew G. Biggs
@biggsag
Senior Fellow, @aeiecon
Order my new book The Real Retirement Crisis! tinyurl.com/bdf9hs
Read me at littleknownfacts.substack.com
Joined February 2015
- The average household income of a public school teacher in 2016 was just under $122,000, more than double the median income for all US households of $59,000.TIME’s new cover: This is what it’s like to be a teacher in America ti.me/2NbK4fx
- I don't have the numbers in front of me, but had GW Bush's 2005 Social Security plan been passed, the vast majority of people retiring today would have higher benefits and (more importantly, IMO) Social Security's solvency would be extended. A paper with details is planned forChris Sununu, on his way out the door in NH, is boosting DOGE and urging Rs to go after entitlement spending. On partially privatizing Social Security: "George W. Bush was absolutely right, and he’s been proven right time and time again." semafor.com/article/12/13/…
- Replying to @AliceFromQueensI asked a doctor friend if his morbidly obese/diabetic patients understood the issues and how to fix them. He said they know EXACTLY what the issues are, but just can't change their eating habits. If Ozempic does it and saves their lives, that's good.
- This will only add to my unpopularity, and yet a short thread follows...Social security is not a slush fund for corrupt politicians. It's OUR MONEY. 😡 😡 😡 #FJB
- In the US only 9% of retirees characterize their incomes as severely inadequate. In Europe it’s two-and-a-half times higher at 23%. In France & Germany, it's 3.5 times higher than in the US. forbes.com/sites/andrewbi…
- I've worked on Social Security reform a long time and it's a really contentious issue. But I don't know a single Social Security expert, progressive, centrist or conservative, who thinks the Social Security Fairness Act is good policy. All of them understand the real windfallReplying to @ShaiAkabasAlso, nearly every Social Security policy expert from across the ideological spectrum agrees that this is not the right way to solve the problem: bpcaction.org/bpc-action-and…
- Conservative opinion is everywhere. What would help major media, IMO, is the odd conservative news editor to tip off reporters that their stories may be one-sided.JUST IN - Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos has reportedly given the newspaper a mandate to add more conservative opinion writers at the paper — NY Post
- No solvent business prefunds its pensions? Tell that to the DOL, which requires private pensions to be prefunded using conservative investment assumptions and to promptly address unfunded liabilities when they occur.GOP is talking smack about the Post Office (of course, since they have no ideas). The funny thing about that: it‘s the GOP’s own “business model” that hurt them! They forced USPS to prefund pensions decades out (which makes NO sense & no solvent biz does)instead of year to year.
- A good test of a methodology is if it produces absurd results. The same data & methods that produce the supposed 21% "teacher salary gap" also tell us that nurses are dramatically overpaid and telemarketers are highly underpaid. @AEIecon
- Replying to @biggsagFirst, the MAIN reason Social Security faces a massive funding deficit is that past and even current participants receive significantly more benefits than they paid in taxes + interest. It was a great deal for them, but that makes it a poorer deal going forward.
- "What's Your Major": Another Blow to the So-Called Gender Pay Gap. @aeiecon @Mark_J_Perry #EqualPayDay forbes.com/sites/andrewbi…
- Replying to @jwhandley17Just bear in mind that GDP per capita isn't a measure of productivity (better captured by output per worker). Japan is a much older country than Poland, so a larger share of its population is no longer working.
- In other words, more and more of our taxes will produce nothing in return.🚨Interest is now our 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐬𝐭 government program🚨 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐬 this year just 𝒔𝒖𝒓𝒑𝒂𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒇𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 and it also 𝒆𝒙𝒄𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅 𝑴𝒆𝒅𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈. crfb.org/blogs/interest…
