Phil Kerpen

Here are the links to my three-part series on Pajamas Media:

Part I: Moderate Republicans Key to Stopping Lame-Duck Threat

Part II: Special Election Candidates Promise to Stop Lame-Duck Agenda

Part III: Dems Up for Election in 2012 Can Stop the Lame-Duck Agenda

For even more on the lame duck, check out this summary on the Americans for Prosperity site.

By Phil Kerpen - The Daily Caller
Published: 5:04 PM 08/16/2010

Paul Krugman’s astonishingly incorrect column about Social Security’s finances is based on the premise that anticipated deficits in the Social Security program may never materialize. A couple of years ago, he could have made that claim with a very slight chance of being correct. This year, facts have already overtaken his weak argument: the CBO reported earlier this year that Social Security is already spending more in benefits than it collects in taxes, which the program’s own trustees confirmed last week.

Social Security has a problem that’s even bigger than its insolvency, which is that it offers a terrible deal for young workers. For young, single workers all Social Security promises (a promise it can’t even afford to keep) is about a 1.5 percent real rate of return. What it can afford to pay is more like half a percent, which is more like passbook interest than a real investment return. Polls consistently show that strong majorities of younger workers don’t expect to ever collect any Social Security benefits.

Read the rest at Daily Caller.

By PHIL KERPEN

ARLINGTON, Va. -- Most Americans will pay thousands of dollars per year in Social Security taxes during their working lives on the promise that they'll receive a government pension when they reach a certain age.

Their employers will contribute an equal amount.

When they finally become eligible for these benefits, however, they will learn another reality: If they or their spouse are still working and their earnings exceed a certain threshold, the government will tax their Social Security benefits.

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2009/October/Social-Security-No-Cost-of-Living-Increase/

BY PHILIP KERPEN
March 20, 2007
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/50792

The apparent collapse of talks between the White House and Senate Democrats suggests that, though we should remain vigilant, conservative groups appear to have successfully stopped a sell-out effort to raise Social Security taxes in the name of reform.

That said, the status quo — entitlement spending projected to lead an explosion in the size of the federal government to 38% of gross domestic product by 2050 from 20% — is a rout for limited government conservatives and a disaster for the country's future.

The key to getting the reform effort back on track is to focus on the lowest common denominator problem with the current system — Congress's unconscionable raid of Social Security surpluses to fund unrelated programs. Fortunately the conservative Republican Study Committee is now proposing to do precisely that by including a commitment to stop the raid in its American Taxpayer Bill of Rights agenda announced last Wednesday.

Read the whole column at NYSun.com.

The present bad deal that is Social Security may get even worse.

By Phil Kerpen

President Bush’s commitment to establish a Social Security legacy may be on a collision course with the Democratic Congress. The contours of a deal are starting to appear around a payroll-tax increase and cuts in promised future benefits for higher income workers — both of which spell major collateral damage for American workers. Meanwhile, personal accounts may not be included in any compromise deal.

Taken together, these measures are entirely about what’s best for government: They are about finding a way to make the books balance on paper so that the feds can keep spending our Social Security dollars on unrelated, wasteful programs.