NYT OpEd on Social Security by Jason Furman

This is a quote from Jason Furman in the NY Times OPEd on Social Security.

“People who receive Social Security haven’t taken to the streets in outrage — perhaps because they know from experience they will be spared,“ Jason Furman writes. “It’s everyone else who will be made to pay.”

The OpEd is titled

I Worked in the White House. We Never Imagined This Problem Would Get This Bad.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/12/opinion/social-security-benefits-budget.html?smid=fb-nytopinion&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwY2xjawSiHXdleHRuA2FlbQIxMABicmlkETFQOGtDTUxwVnJraHlueGcxc3J0YwZhcHBfaWQQMjIyMDM5MTc4ODIwMDg5MgABHjzl5_nV9W1q3-1dutyZlSOk3eCzbMslbHGV1Hv3uZfawGHWLA2w09_JmeXW_aem_Ja1Mk_tvdvemgknc0kywRQ

I know it's behind a paywall (you can sign up), but the point is that he claims he didn't realize the problem with Social Security would be this severe at this stage. My beef with Jason Furman is that he served on Obama's economic council starting in 2013 and Social Security went cash flow negative in 2010. If he had bothered to read the reports from the CBO, he would have recognized the issue.

He wrote this:

Instead of fixing the problem, America is likely to just kick it down the road again, drawing on other parts of the federal budget to pay for the shortfall in this one. The rest of the budget, however, is already strained and getting more so by the day.

He was in the White House three years after SS when cash flow negative. If Obama was so great why didn't he deal with Society security while he was in charge?

Then there is this:

Both Mr. Clinton and Mr. Bush warned that the closer the Social Security fund got to insolvency, the worse the options would be for real and lasting change

How did the Democrats react to Bush talking about the issues of Social security? The Democrats had 16 years to deal with the issue have done nothing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was extremely pleased with President Bush's latest revelation that his biggest failure in office was not passing Social Security reform, telling reporters on Friday that it was a great Democratic triumph that the party managed to block him.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/nancy-pelosi-bush-social-security-pleased-disappointed_n_772538

I thought the idea of putting the money into private saving account was a good idea. That way the government could not spend the money.

Then there is this:

President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which included a de facto benefit increase that came at the expense of revenues partially earmarked for Social Security,

He dislikes the extra 6000 dollar tax deduction for seniors.

The people in government are pretty much unless.

Here is the CBO projects from 2010.

https://www.cbo.gov/sites/default/files/111th-congress-2009-2010/reports/10-22-socialsecuritychartbook.pdf

Edited June 19Jun 19 by TedG