Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act 'did not help' Social Security, says expert
Social Security is currently a major point of concern in the United States of America, since the fund faces insolvency in six years unless Congress does something about it. When President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, he might have believed that it would do wonders for Social Security. However, that hasn't been the case, and if anything, things might get a lot worse for low and middle-income Americans in the coming years.
As per a report in Fortune, Martha Shedden, the president and cofounder of the National Association of Registered Social Security Analysts (NARSSA), believes the only thing that Trump’s bill did for Social Security was make sure that his rich friends get richer at the expense of other Americans. “I’m an optimist. I have studied Social Security now for over 15 years, and I know it is so complicated, but the advantage of that is there are so many rules and calculations that there are many, many little tweaks that can be made,” Shedden said.
She believes that the bill only helps very few at the top gain more tax advantages and wealth, while the lower and middle classes don't really see much of a benefit. Shedden also spoke about Trump’s plan to do away with federal taxation of Social Security benefits, which the President revealed at his State Of The Union address.
On paper, it may seem like a good plan, as no tax means people would get more money. However, Shedden argues that the tax money that used to be collected went directly back into the Social Security fund. Doing away with that might be beneficial in the short run, but in the long run, it would just increase the time the US will need to cut benefits. She also noted that such tax breaks only ever help out the wealthy.
There is also the matter of public awareness about Social Security. The program was never properly explained to Americans, and most of them are not quite sure how it even works. “Messaging is a huge issue with Social Security,” Shedden said, before adding, “It was never explained to us what this program really is, which is a large national insurance program that we all contribute to.”
Expanding on that, she outlined how Social Security functions as more than just a retirement check, saying, “Our employers match that contribution, and it’s providing four different insurances: It’s loss of a job, it’s survivor life insurance, it’s disability insurance, and it’s medical insurance, Medicare…It’s hundreds of thousands of dollars in everyone’s retirement years. And for couples or high earners, it’s often over a million dollars, just depending on their life expectancy." Social Security will surely be a major talking point in the coming years, and it will be interesting to see how Congress handles it.
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