The War on Social Security

…is, as Helaine Olen observes, also a war on women:

Social Security is rightly viewed as a program that provides economic security for all Americans in their old age. But who is most likely to benefit from it? From the time an American can first claim eligibility at age 62, the majority of those receiving a Social Security check in retirement are female—56 percent to start off, to be specific. But because women outlive men, that discrepancy grows only larger with time. By age 85, about two-thirds of the recipients are women.

Moreover, women—who earn less than men and take more pauses from the workforce (due in part to their assumption of caretaking duties for everyone from children to elderly relatives)—are more dependent on Social Security for their economic well-being in their final years than their male peers are. According to the National Women’s Law Center, 30 percent of women 65 or older rely on Social Security for at least 90 percent of their income. Men? Only 23 percent are so reliant. And women’s checks are smaller, too. The average retired female worker receives more than $300 less a month from Social Security than a male one.

Viewed all together, this leaves women more likely to suffer from any cutbacks in Social Security, even the most innocent-sounding ones. Take a look at calls to change the formula to determine annual cost-of-living adjustments for Social Security payments, a position supported by, for example, Ted Cruz.

This is one of the many reasons to oppose radical efforts by Republicans to end Social Security,* and it’s also one of many reasons to oppose the Chained CPI proposals floated by Obama. Politically, Democrats need to position themselves as the party of strengthening and expanding Social Security, period. It’s good policy and good politics.

*George W. Bush did not just run on privatizing Social Security in his 2004 campaign but in his 2000 one, exhibit ZZZ showing why people who insist that there was no way of knowing how conservative he was ex ante just didn’t know what they were talking about.