What is a commonly overlooked but vital issue in American politics?

Question

I'm looking for something that perhaps was debated briefly, but was soon forgotten in the current debates over abortion, etc. This issue could very well be considered "unsexy", thus limiting the number of politicians willing to devote time to discuss it. However, I'm hoping for some serious suggestions of issues that are truly important.

Answer 1

Not one member of congress has come forward and discussed the real issue of Social Security. This is a moral issue and it can not be understood without a brief history lesson:

Until 1983, Social Security was a pay as you go system - a contract between generations, where the younger generation paid for the retirement of the previous generation. But in 1983, Congress recognized that the retirement of the Baby Boom generation would put an unfair burden on the next (smaller) generation of workers unless changes were made to the system. As a result of the massive 1983 reform package, the retirement age was scheduled to gradually be raised to 67 in order to account for longer life spans and social security taxes on wages were increased by about 1/3, in order to build up a real trust fund to help pay for the retirment of the baby boom generation. As a result, the trust fund has built up a surplus of trillions of dollars - and the baby boomers paid for their parents' retirement while providing for their own as well. By one measure, the 1983 reform package has been wildly successful, as the surplus in the trust fund is now predicted to last at least until 2042, when the oldest baby boomers will be 96 years old if they are still alive. (Even then the Security System will not be broke - It will just have to go back to a pay as you go system - which may not be much of a problem if the baby boom generation is dead.)

When the social security reform legislation was signed into law by Presdent Regean in April of 1983, he said:

"We're entering an age when average Americans will live longer and live more productive lives. And these amendments adjust to that progress. The changes in this legislation will allow social security to age as gracefully as all of us hope to do ourselves, without becoming an overwhelming burden on generations still to come.

So, today we see an issue that once divided and frightened so many people now uniting us. Our elderly need no longer fear that the checks they depend on will be stopped or reduced. These amendments protect them. Americans of middle age need no longer worry whether their career-long investment will pay off. These amendments guarantee it. And younger people can feel confident that social security will still be around when they need it to cushion their retirement."


Early in his first term, President Reagan promised to balance the Federal Budget by 1983. The problem of course is that we have had massive budget deficits under the administrations of Reagan and Bush I and II. Because the baby boom generation has not yet started to retire, this year congress will be able to borrow and will borrow over 150 billion dollars from the social security trust fund (in addition to the trillions of dollars that have already been borrowed), every penny of which was paid for by FICA taxes on the wages of working people - and congress has no plan in place to pay it back when it is needed to pay for the retirement of the baby boom generation. This borrowing has masked the true size of the federal budget deficit.

The lowest paid minimum wage worker and a person making $90,000 per year pay social security (FICA) taxes at the same percentage rate. The justification for this that FICA taxes are like retirement savings.

When President Bush complained (in his 2005 State of the Union address) that in 2017, the trust fund will be paying out more than it takes in and when he calls the trust fund a "worthless bunch of IOU's," he is in effect asking for "debt relief." He wants to find a way to avoid repaying the debt to the trust fund so that he can preserve his 15% dividend and capital gains tax rates and his other tax breaks for the rich.

Thus we are faced with a profound moral isssue: Is it right to borrow and spend somebody's retirement money and not pay it back. If the CEOs of a big corporation (like Enron or World Com) had taken all the money from their employees' pension plans and replaced it with a bunch of worthless stock options or worthless IOUs, they would be headed to jail. In the alternative, is it right to maintain tax cuts for the rich and pay back the retirement money borrowed from the trust fund by passing the entire cost of doing so on to the next generation - something the 1983 reforms were intended to avoid?

In order to take the high moral ground on this issue, Democrats must recognize that they had a hand in creating the big deficits of the past 23 years. Both parties have been buying our votes with borrowed money for far too long. But in any event, the press and politicians have an obligation to explain to the public that it is not social security but the rest of the government that needs reforming. Neither the Democrats nor the Press have done their job.

Answer 2

Social Security. The unsexiest topic alive for Gen-X'er's and younger. And perhaps the most vital. What happens to this "entitlement" after the baby boomers have bled it dry? What about our "entitlement?" What about how much we pay in that we will never see?

EDIT: Glad to see it's an issue for others. It was Bill Clinton who balanced the budget by borrowing our social security money, and I saw the eloquent answerer left out that fact. The years in which SS will run out are widely disputed, also. Conservatives estimate the SS will run out while Boomers are in retirement. Furthermore, the "pay as you go" plan leaves out the significant disparity between the vast number of boomers and Gen-X and Y. It will be 4 to 1. How many of our children will pay 25% to fix Social Security for the generations who aborted so many of their colleagues?

Answer 3

it somewhat is used to get votes. it somewhat is used to get investment. it somewhat is a relentless conflict floor difficulty. no longer "oh it's going to stay criminal anyhow" with the aid of fact the difficultly of having an abortion in any respect in some states exhibits that political maneuvering has worked. only with the aid of fact it ought to no longer ever be outlawed interior the classic centers of liberalism, including New England (2 and 1 / 4 centuries of scuffling with conservative concept) does no longer mean it somewhat isn't any longer nonetheless a topic count number. If abortion is a "made up difficulty" then so is distinctly lots all politics. the only difference is that during this final election, you observed it getting used as a wedge difficulty against conservatives, fairly than through conservatives.

Answer 4

Creating a truly progressive tax structure.

Back in the '50s the super rich were paying 90%, and look what America accomplished in that era.

Answer 5

POVERTY**HUNGER**CLASS GAPS**EDUCATION**UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE**AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR ALL**LIVING WAGES**THE WORKING POOR**HOMELESSNESS**THE ENVIRONMENT**CORPORATE AND GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION**AND SO MANY OTHER THINGS!!!

TO FRANKLIN**I THINK YOUR ANSWER IS THE BEST I HAVE HEARD ON YAHOO ANSWERS, REGARDING THE SOCIAL SECURITY ISSUE...THANK YOU!

Answer 6

Poverty.
Class gaps.
The dying middle class.
Education.

Answer 7

working poor, credit card debt