Eric Laursen appeared on Fire Dog Lake’s Book Salon
Eric Laursen was recently a guest on Fire Dog Lake’s Book Salon discussing his recently released title The People’s Pension: The Struggle to Defend Social Security Since Reagan.
Moderated by Ellen Schultz, she began by stating, “A real eye-opener to me was Laursen’s material on how right leaning Democrats in Congress and the Obama Administration are an unrecognized threat, given their willingness to reduce the deficit by taking an axe to Social Security. In the guise of preserving the system, they’ve called for reducing benefits by raising the retirement age, introducing means testing, and reducing cost-of-living increases. At the same time, many staunchly oppose raising payroll taxes, or raising the cap on income subject to payroll tax, which is currently $110,000. Raising, or eliminating the cap Laursen writes, would close a lot of the funding gap, and he points out, without pulling the rug out from under those who need it the most.
I’d like to start by asking Eric: What else could improve the system, and whether these moves –as well as raising the income cap—are being seriously considered?”