In Denver on Monday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain said that it was an “absolute disgrace” that Social Security taxes workers to pay benefits to retirees:
Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that’s a disgrace. It’s an absolute disgrace, and it’s got to be fixed.
McCain makes it sound like this is some dire extremity Social Security has been pushed into recently due to financial constraints. But it’s not. It’s how Social Security works. It’s how Social Security was designed to work.
The Social Security statement every worker receives annually describes the program as a “compact between generations”, and that’s what it is — an agreement that today’s workers will bear the burdens of today’s retirees, and in exchange, tomorrow’s workers will bear theirs. In other words, exactly what McCain thinks is a “disgrace”.
One might think that this was just McCain misspeaking, but he went on CNN on Tuesday and confirmed that, no, he really believes this stuff:
Let’s describe it for what it is. They pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees. That’s why it’s broken, that’s why we can fix it. We can do it together, Republicans and Democrats alike.
McCain straightforwardly describes how Social Security has always worked — “they pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees” — and then says “that’s why it’s broken”.
And his solution? Privatization — a bad idea in 2005 when George W. Bush tried to push it, and hasn’t gotten any better since.
(Side note: reheating Bush’s three-year-old bad ideas? That’s Mavericky™!)
So if you think that Social Security — the program that raised a generation of older Americans out of poverty, and that’s been the bedrock of our economic security for decades — is something we should all be ashamed of, then John McCain is the candidate for you!
UPDATE (3:30PM): Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo asks:
I’m very interested to see if anyone asks McCain about his statement that Social Security is an “absolute disgrace.” If you see him asked, let us know.
Good question. If you see any reporters ask him about it, TPM’s tip line is talk@talkingpointsmemo.com.
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