Laurence Tribe, the Constitutional law prof at Harvard, has concerns about Bernie.

[pnwmom]

40. I can't stand Sirota, but if Biden is really saying that Social Security can only be saved

by limiting payments to people who need it (not the wealthy), I think that's wrong.

Social Security has such strong support because it is not viewed as charity -- but as retirement benefits we've all paid into. If we stopped paying the people with more assets, then it would be viewed as charity, and there would be that much more pressure to treat it like welfare -- which they're always trying to slash.

Instead, the best way to save SS is what Hillary proposed: some combination of raising or eliminating the income limits on which the tax is paid now (I don't remember the exact amount, but I think it's on income up to about $113K a year) and extending the SS tax to non-salary forms of income. If we did that we could make the system solvent without turning it into a system only for lower and middle income workers, after promising everybody all their lives that they would get payments in retirement no matter what.


From the link you posted:

If you listen to the speech, you'll notice Biden is in fact arguing the exact opposite. Not only is Biden making the argument that Social Security needs to be saved, he is advocating redistributing money from top earners to pay for it. He says:

“Paul Ryan was correct when he did the tax code. What's the first thing he decided to go after? Social Security and Medicare. Now, we need to do something about Social Security and Medicare. That's the only way you can find room to pay for it. I don't know a whole lot of people in the top 1/10 of 1% or top 1% are relying on Social Security when they retire.”

Biden is saying rich people don't need Social Security, and it's unfair they are receiving it when more vulnerable people need the money.