Social Security overhaul

The bipartisan National Commission on Retirement Policy recently described the future of Social Security in a way that many people assumed but leaders were reluctant to describe. The commission gives Congress the cover it needs to start looking at the retirement system more seriously than ever.

Retirement payments in the future may not begin until age 70, and part of the check may come from personal investment accounts, under proposals by the commission. Social Security recipients should be able to work without a reduction in their benefits, the report concluded, with low-income people who have worked for decades getting no less than 60 percent of the poverty line no matter what they have contributed. The group of lawmakers, business people, economists and pension experts were anticipating the 76 million Baby Boomers who will begin retiring — or thought they were — in approximately 10 years.

Defenders of the current system did not appear much in evidence for the commission’s report. That may be because it was designed to set terms for the upcoming debates in Congress over Social Security and its members wanted support for making changes, not challenges from the status quo. Even though some changes are decades off — the increase to age 70 for retirement is proposed for 2029 — they will get just that from current and soon-to-be recipients of Social Security understandably concerned that the money they are counting on might be reduced.

Younger generations, which are paying into the system with little or no hope of seeing the money again, should be more willing to support changes. That includes the higher risk associated with private investment of the retirement money. A benefit of the recently gravity-free stock market is that more and more people are getting into it and getting used to risking money. They will be more willing to support the private accounts, that is, until the market falls.

Just a few years ago, Social Security was an untouchable topic. Now, with very little prodding, politicians are ready to tear it apart and rebuild it. Take that as a sign the situation has become serious.