(Washington, D.C.) – Today, Citizens Against Government Waste issued its weekly spending cut alert aimed at raising the age at which Social Security beneficiaries can begin to collect payments.  Currently, retirees are eligible to begin receiving Social Security benefits at age 62.  According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), increasing the early eligibility age from 62 to 64 at a rate of two months each year would save taxpayers $1.7 billion in 2012, $33 billion through 2016, and $144 billion through 2021.  

The Social Security Administration (SSA) was established so that a small number of retirees could be supported by a relatively large number of workers.  In recent decades demographics have shifted, and Americans are living longer than ever.  According to the CDC, average life expectancy at birth for all Americans increased from 59.2 years in 1929 to 77.8 years in 2004, but the eligibility age for Social Security has hardly budged.  The SSA is in danger of becoming a Ponzi scheme wherein relatively young workers are forced to “invest” in a system that cannot pay out upon retirement.  Raising the early retirement age has been advocated for years in CAGW’s Prime Cuts database, a compendium of 763 waste-cutting recommendations that would save taxpayers $350 billion in the first year and $2.2 trillion over five years. 

“We are already at the point where there is no pool of cash sitting in Washington, waiting for workers when they retire,” said CAGW President Tom Schatz.  “Most of the Social Security funds collected from workers are used immediately to pay the monthly stipends of retirees.  The rest is used by other government agencies to pay for over-budget programs.  In return for the Social Security funds, the Treasury issues an IOU, which is a promise to pay back the money taken from Social Security. 

“Supporters of the status quo like to claim that the IOUs, or ‘special issue’ bonds, are assets backed by the full faith and credit of the federal government.  That may sound comforting, but those bonds are not stores of wealth in any meaningful sense.  They are not real economic assets that can fund benefits.  Paying for benefits down the road cannot happen without raising taxes, increasing the debt, or cutting spending. 

“Increasing the age of eligibility for Social Security is the most obvious, least harmful measure we can take toward ensuring a guaranteed income for seniors.  Without it, we may eventually end up tearing down the entire system in the name of protecting a few current beneficiaries,” concluded Schatz.

Citizens Against Government Waste is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.  The Spending Cut of the Week calls attention to a federal program that is wasteful or duplicative.