Steve Forbes on Means-Testing

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2011/05/steve-forbes-on-means-testing

Steve Forbes, writing in the June 6 issue of Forbes:

An immediate trap GOPers should be extremely wary of is that we should start means testing for Social Security and Medicare in order to save both programs. Otherwise sensible conservatives are glomming onto the idea that cutting and then eliminating Social Security benefits for retirees making $60,000 a year or more would work wonders for saving the system.

This notion is immoral, a breach of trust. The bargain between our government and its citizens, which is at the foundation of Social Security, is that during your working years you'll pay in so you can draw out money when you retire. ....

And what is meant by means testing? For income? Today a person who has considerable assets may have little cash income. After all, Steve Jobs has collected not a dime in dividends on his multibillion dollars' worth of Apple stock. Does this mean we'll have to submit detailed personal balance sheets annually to the IRS to determine whether we can collect benefits that we've ostensibly already paid for? (The same holds true for Medicare.)

by Editor  |  May 31, 2011 at 1:18 pm receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list