En CA, los beneficios de Social Security van más allá de los cheques mensuales
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Social Security significa más que sólo un cheque para millones de norteamericanos. De acuerdo a un reporte reciente, los beneficios de Social Security generan más de 9 millones de empleos en todo el país y más de un trillón de dólares de actividad económica.
Christina Martin-Firvida, Directora de Seguridad Económica de AARP, dice que su investigación encontró que Social Security tiene un impacto superlativo porque cuando sus beneficiarios se gastan el cheque que reciben cada mes, esos dólares se filtran a toda la economía.
“Se enfocó esencialmente en los beneficios que se pagan, cómo se gastan y cómo eso hace crecer las economías tanto nacional como la de cada estado.”
California es el estado que tiene mayor impacto debido a que tiene la economía más grande del país. El reporte detectó que los beneficios de Social Security, tan solo en el estado generaron casi un millón de empleos, 147 billones de dólares en actividad económica y casi 9 billones en impuestos locales y estatales. Martin-Firvida afirma que los resultados de este reporte adquieren un peso específico importante en la discusión sobre cómo tapar el boquete de la deuda de largo plazo que tiene Social Security.
“Este reporte le ayuda a la gente a llenar los vacíos de información que tenían, mientras meditan esas propuestas para entender que, cuando recortas los beneficios, también afectas a la economía; eso es lo que falta aquí.”
La administración de Social Security dice que a menos que se hagan cambios al programa, los beneficios tendrán que ser reducidos en todos los ámbitos más o menos en un 25 por ciento a partir de 2033.
Consulte el reporte en Social Security may provide income stability for more than 1 million people in California, but it's also good for the economy, according to
a report from AARP.
Christina Martin-Firvida, AARP's director of economic security, says its research found that Social Security has a much greater impact because when the recipients spend their monthly benefit checks, those dollars trickle through the economy.
"It looked at, essentially, benefits that are paid, how they are spent, and how does that make the economy grow, both nationally and in each of the states," she said.
Since California has the largest economy of any state, it sees the greatest impact. The report found that in California alone, Social Security benefits support nearly 1 million jobs and $147 billion in economic output, and help produce nearly $9 billion in state and local tax revenues.
Martin-Firvida said the results of the report are important to discussions about how to close Social Security's long-term financing gap.
"This report helps people fill in some blanks in the information they had, as they think about those proposals, to understand when you're cutting benefits, you're also hurting the economy," she said. "That's what's missing here."
According to the Social Security Administration, unless changes are made to the program, Social Security benefits will have to be reduced across the board by about 25 percent beginning in 2033.
The report is online at aarp.org.
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