Another poetic gem from TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet:
One reason the problem of Social Security’s solvency seems so untractable is that not all the alternatives to make the system solvent are ever mentioned — especially those that would make one of the planet’s most regressive tax structures more progressive.
The Saving Social Security Poem
About social security
The choices seem quite clear,
Only two things now can save it
(Say the only seers you hear).
We must either cut the benefits
Or make new claimants wait
‘Til they’re older by a year or two
To pass its entrance gate.
Unless we take these vital steps
(Official sources say).
The system will go belly up
There’ll be all hell to pay.
Of course, there is one other way
To keep this program solvent;
Another way, its fiscal angst,
Forever to resolve it.
Just make the biggest earners
Pay the same rate as the poor;
Folks making those big salaries
The system now don’t gore.
If we SSI’d all earners
But on payouts keep a cap,
We would not just solve a problem
We would close a fairness gap.
So why is a solution
That makes sense in limbo mired?
‘Cause the buzz is fixed in concrete
So fresh thinking ain’t required.
Copyright 2008 Michael Silverstein
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.