The Steady Drip

Social Security Crisis Is a Ruse for Socialists to Impose a Wealth Tax (Connecting the Dots: The Social Security Administration, The Roosevelt Institute, The Belizean Grove, The Bohemian Club, The IRS, The IRS Oversight Board, The U.S. Department of the Treasury, Medicare & The Carnegie/Soros Network)

Newsmax.com

By Peter MoriciThursday, 03 September 2026 03:52 PM

(Dreamstime)

https://www.newsmax.com/finance/peter-morici/social-security-crisis-democratic-socialists/2026/09/03/id/1268299/

Social Security Crisis is a ruse that populists are using to advance their agenda under the banner of reform.

The Social Security Administration warns that the trust fund that supports old age pensions will be depleted in 2032.

If Congress doesn’t act, benefits will be cut to what can be financed by payroll taxes alone—about 78% of promised levels.

In 1983, bi-partisan reforms reversed modest deficits and built surpluses in the trust funds. But slowing economic growth, declining birth rates, limits on immigration, longer life expectancies and unfunded new benefits put the trust fund into deficit.

The Biden Administration boosted benefits for state and local government workers, and President Trump cut income taxes on Social Security benefits that are diverted into the trust fund.

From 1983 to 2009, dedicated taxes exceeded benefits paid.

Afterwards, the SSA used some of the interest earned on Treasury securities held by the trust fund but eventually it had to start selling off those securities. That added to the overall federal deficit and increased Treasury securities in circulation and interest rates.

Since 2025, the gap between payroll taxes collected and benefits paid has been 0.82% of GDP or about 14% of the 5.8% of GDP overall government deficit.

In 2032, Congress could make up the Social Security shortfall by diverting other tax revenues and nothing consequential would happen to the overall federal deficit, Treasury securities sales or their wider macroeconomic effects.

The historical data and projections for overall federal budget deficits issued by the Congressional Budget Office include Social Security and Medicare deficits and surpluses, just like other government activities.

Those projections assume Congress enables continued full pensions after 2032 without any additional taxes.

In 2033, the Social Security pension deficit would be 1.01% of GDP and overall federal deficit 6.3%.

Importantly, most of the increase in the overall deficit from 2025 is caused by other federal programs.

Something radical only happens with federal finances if Congress doesn’t act—then the overall deficit falls to 5.3%.

Plans to reform the pension system generally come down to increasing payroll taxes, raising the retirement age or cutting benefits—for example, caping payments to seniors with other wealth or income.

They all amount to targeting the elderly to help solve the government’s wider deficit problem or to freeing up resources for things like federally funded childcare, Medicare for all, a universal basic income and more military spending.

For most seniors, Social Security pensions are supplemented by other wealth and pensions.

Seniors are a convenient target, because they are wealthier than the seniors of past generations.

In part, that’s thanks to them relying more on tax-deferred retirement savings accounts—previous generations were more likely to have defined-benefits private pensions—and to a buoyant stock market and rising home equity values.

The alleged Social Security crisis offers an opportunity for outfits like the Progressive Policy Institute to disguise wealth taxes as reforms.

President Roosevelt was motivated to create Social Security because in 1933 about half the elderly were living in poverty, today the figure is about 6%.

Roosevelt explicitly wanted the pensions paid for by a payroll tax, even though other sources of funding made better economic sense to protect the program from politicians.

In his words, “We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and their unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program. Those taxes aren’t a matter of economics, they’re straight politics.”

Currently, the benefits pensioners receive are computed by summing their lifetime payroll taxes paid adjusted for increases in the average wage.

After retirement, benefits are adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index.

Already, the benefits structure is progressive. The formulas award lower income workers a higher percentage of lifetime tax payments than those with wage and salary incomes closer to the payroll tax earnings cap—currently, $184,500.

The PPI proposal would take this redistribution scheme further by awarding benefits according to the number of years worked not the amount a worker pays into the system.

That would raise benefits for low-income workers. But it would lower benefits paid to wealthier individuals—even though they paid for those benefits through payroll taxes—and is effectively a wealth tax.

It would transfer some of the savings to create minimum lifetime income for those who work at least 20 years.

Those sound a lot like a page from the emerging agenda of Democratic Socialists of America.

Connecting the Dots:

Jonathan Soros is a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, George Soros’s son and was the vice chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

George Soros is Jonathan Soros’s father and was the Chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Roosevelt Institute.

James Roosevelt Jr. is a governor at the Roosevelt Institute and was an associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA).

Gwendolyn S. King was a commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA) and is a founding partner at the Directors' Council.

Michele J. Hooper is a founding partner at the Directors' Council and a member of the Belizean Grove.

Deborah L. Wince-Smith is a member of the Belizean Grove and was a member of the IRS Oversight Board.

IRS Oversight Board is a citizen’s board for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Belizean_Grove is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.

Henrietta Holsman Fore is a member of the Belizean Grove and a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Henry A. Kissinger was a member of the Bohemian Club, a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank).

George Soros was the Chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Carnegie Corporation of New York was a funder the Aspen Institute (think tank), the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and a supporter for the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

Andrew Carnegie was the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Timothy D. Adams is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was an undersecretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

David D. Aufhauser is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a general counsel for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

James A. Baker III is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Kenneth W. Dam is a lifetime director for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Stuart E. Eizenstat is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Robert M. Kimmitt is a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

George P. Shultz is an honorary director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and was a secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Herbert M. Allison Jr. was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Teresa M. Ressel was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank) and an assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is a division of the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

Samuel W. Bodman III was the deputy secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and a director at the AES Corporation.

John A. Koskinen was a director at the AES Corporation and the commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Moises Naim is a director at the AES Corporation, is a Distinguished Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), a senior associate, International Economics Program for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and was a board member for the International Crisis Group.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

George Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, a board member for the International Crisis Group and was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and the Aspen Institute (think tank).

Andrew Carnegie was the founder of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank) and the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was a funder the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (think tank), the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a supporter for the American Society for Muslim Advancement.

Henry A. Kissinger was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a member of the Bohemian Club.

Belizean_Grove is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.

Henrietta Holsman Fore is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a member of the Belizean Grove.

Deborah L. Wince-Smith is a member of the Belizean Grove and was a member of the IRS Oversight Board.

IRS Oversight Board is a citizen’s board for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Michele J. Hooper is a member of the Belizean Grove and a founding partner at the Directors' Council.

Gwendolyn S. King is a founding partner at the Directors' Council and was a commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA).

James Roosevelt Jr. was an associate commissioner for the Social Security Administration (SSA) and is a governor at the Roosevelt Institute.

Jonathan Soros is a senior fellow at the Roosevelt Institute, George Soros’s son and was the vice chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

George Soros is Jonathan Soros’s father the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations and was the Chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank).

Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Roosevelt Institute, the Aspen Institute (think tank) and the International Rescue Committee.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was a funder the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), the Aspen Institute (think tank) and a supporter for the American Society for Muslim Advancement

Andrew Carnegie was the founder of the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

Henry A. Kissinger was a director at the Atlantic Council of the United States (think tank), a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), a member of the Bohemian Club, an overseer at the International Rescue Committee and the founder of Kissinger Associates, Inc.

Timothy F. Geithner is an overseer, director for the International Rescue Committee, was a researcher for Kissinger Associates, Inc., a co-founder for the Group of 20 (G20) and the secretary for the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the Barack Obama administration.