TTR offers a smorgasbord of policy delights today, touching on Social Security solvency, a green economy, equal pay and the impact of cap-and-trade legislation. Get in there...
- Social Security is fine. Now that the House and Senate have come together on a budget deal, some observers have been questioning whether a deal was made to do health-care reform this year and Social Security reform in the near future. But we've got time to figure out the problem -- Social Security will be solvent for years to come. The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reports, first, that we still have a surplus of Social Security funding:
Some important dates to remember: The cost of Social Security is projected to exceed its total income in 2027, when it will have to start drawing on trust-fund assets to pay full benefits. Those assets, if nothing is done, will sustain the program through 2041, when benefits would have to be cut about 25 percent to sustain the program into the future. The lesson? Social Security will require legislative attention to ensure long-term solvency and efficacy, but it doesn't need to happen immediately, especially given the much larger unsustainable problem of American health-care costs. Responsible public policy requires that the Social Security reform happen in the next few Congresses, but anyone prophesying the death of Social Security is engaged in irresponsible fear-mongering. -- TF - Is the economy greener on the other side? [PDF] A report released by the Economic Policy Institute spells out the long-term economic benefits of public "green" investments. Most notable is its pronouncement that a "green" investment is one of the most stimulative forms of government spending, providing a 1.6:1 return-to-investment ratio. This is greater than generic infrastructure investment (1.59), temporary tax cuts (1.03), and corporate tax cuts (0.3). A significant percentage of these returns would come in the form of new, higher-paying jobs. EPI estimates that a $100 billion investment would yield a 1.1 million net job increase over a two-year period. Now for the less-than-rosy projection: Men would be disproportionately advantaged by this spending, accounting for 75 percent of the total employment gains. This is the inevitable result of an EPI statistical model that targets "green" spending toward male-dominated industries such as construction and transportation. Perhaps the key to enlarging and popularizing the still-nascent green industry is to make job opportunities accessible to both genders. -- JL
- How about real pay equality? President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on Jan. 29, his first act as president. But as the Center For American Progress points out, there is much more to be done on the issue of equal pay -- specifically, making the Paycheck Fairness Act law by maneuvering it past recalcitrant Senate Republicans. The Paycheck Fairness Act "would close and eventually end the pay gap altogether" by strengthening the 1963 Equal Pay Act. The legislation explicitly prohibits "retaliation against employees who actively seek knowledge regarding the pay rates of their coworkers" and opens up employers to "civil action for compensatory and punitive damages" on the basis of gender disparity. -- JB
- A measurable impact. [PDF] The potential results of a piece of legislation can seldom be precisely quantified, but the World Resources Institute offers a prediction of the impact of the Waxman-Markey bill on U.S. greenhouse gas emissions through its cap-and-trade program and indirectly through other requirements. The caps alone would cut emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, but that number could potentially increase to 38 percent when other mandates in the bill and additional sources of reductions are considered. The accompanying graph illustrates a potentially dramatic drop in emissions by 2050, compared to the increases predicted if the status quo persists. The institute warns, however, that these figures are based on a variety of assumptions and "should not be taken as statements of fact." The House Energy and Commerce Committee held hearings on the draft bill last week, but it has yet to be formally introduced. -- MK
-- TAP Staff
