Social Security Solvency

In Iowa Fred is talking about changes to Social Security to save it from insolvency. It is very easy to figure out that you have very few options: 1) Cut benefits; 2) Increase taxes. The cutting of benefits, though, can take many forms. Some examples are to increase the retirement age or to put a "means test" on Social Security recipients. Well, here is what Fred is proposing:

In a meeting with reporters and editors at the Des Moines Register on Tuesday, Thompson suggested the key to reforming Social Security would be changing the rate of increase in benefits. The current system bases such increases on wages and Thompson suggests benefits increase in accordance with rises in the price of goods, which tend to increase at a slower level.