by Jane Richey | Aug 13, 2012 | Fiscal Responsibility, Politics
WASHINGTON (AP) — Now that Social Security is paying more in benefits than it collects in taxes, there is a fierce debate among politicians, academics and advocates about whether those shortfalls are adding to the federal budget deficit. The issue is important because...
by Jane Richey | Aug 13, 2012 | Constitutionally Limited Goverment, Politics
For nearly three decades Social Security produced big surpluses, collecting more in taxes from workers than it paid in benefits to retirees, disabled workers, spouses and children. The surpluses also helped mask the size of the budget deficit being generated by the...
by Jane Richey | Aug 13, 2012 | Fiscal Responsibility, Politics
Few of the petitioners who appear before Administrative Law Judge Manny Smith hear the word “no.” Smith grants benefits in close to 80 percent of the Social Security disability claims he hears, nearly twice as often as other administrative judges in Western...
by Jane Richey | Aug 13, 2012 | Voting Issues
Almost three-quarters of all Americans support the idea that people should have to show photo identification to vote, even though they are nearly as concerned about voter suppression as they are about fraud in presidential elections, according to a new Washington Post...
by Jane Richey | Aug 13, 2012 | Constitutionally Limited Goverment, Fiscal Responsibility, Politics
Quick quiz: Who said this about Medicare? “With an aging population and rising health care costs, we are spending too fast to sustain the program. And if we don’t gradually reform the system while protecting current beneficiaries, it won’t be there when future...
