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Subway
Tokens
and Social
Security
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The following article by economist
L. Randall Wray explains why the concept of saving Social
Security
surpluses makes no sense, and what really needs to be done for future
retirees.
There is a
widespread belief that
Social Security surpluses must be "saved" for future retirees.
Most
believe that this can be done by accumulating a trust fund and ensuring
that the Treasury does not "spend" the surplus. The "saviors" of
Social Security thus insist that the rest of the government’s budget
must
remain balanced, for otherwise the Treasury would be forced to "dip
into"
Social Security reserves.
Can a trust fund
help to provide
for future retirees? Suppose the New York Transit Authority
(NYTA)
decided to offer subway tokens as part of the retirement package
provided
to employees, say 50 free tokens a month after retirement. Should
the city therefore attempt to run an annual "surplus" of tokens,
collecting
more tokens per month than it pays out today in order to accumulate a
trust
fund of tokens to be provided to tomorrow’s NYTA retirees? Of
course
not.
When tokens are
needed to pay future
retirees, the City will simply issue more tokens at that time.
Not
only is accumulation of a hoard of tokens by the City unnecessary, it
will
not in any way ease the burden of providing subway rides for future
retirees.
Whether or not the City can meet its obligation to future retirees will
depend on the ability of the transit system to carry the paying
customers
plus NYTA retirees.
Note also that the
NYTA does not
currently attempt to run a "balanced budget." Indeed it
consistently
runs a subway token deficit. That is, it consistently pays out
more
tokens than it receives, as riders hoard tokens or lose them.
Attempting
to run a surplus of subway tokens would eventually result in a shortage
of tokens, with customers unable to obtain them. A properly run
transit
system would always run a deficit, issuing more tokens than it receives.
Accumulation of a
Social Security
Trust Fund is neither necessary nor useful. Just as a subway
token
surplus cannot help to provide subway rides for future retirees,
neither
can the Social Security Trust Fund help provide for babyboomer retirees.
Whether the future
burden of retirees
will be excessive or not will depend on our society’s ability to
produce
real goods and services, including subway rides at the time that they
will
be needed. Nor does it make any sense for our government to run a
budget surplus. That simply reduces disposable income of the
private
sector. Just as a NYTA token surplus would generate lines of
tokenless
people wanting rides, a federal budget surplus will generate jobless
people
desiring the necessities of life, including subway rides.
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