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Blog
How to Make Social Security Work for Government Workers
09.26.2023
Although workers in 94% of American jobs pay into Social Security, a small segment of the population — most of whom work for state and local governments — do not. Since workers in these jobs do not pay Social Security payroll taxes, those who contribute to Social Security for a portion of their career end…
Stronger Automatic Stabilizers Would Make Timely Stimulus The Norm
05.04.2021
Congress responded to the pandemic recession with bold aid and stimulus programs that are fueling the economy’s impressive recovery. Yet lawmakers also set arbitrary expiration dates for many of those programs, such as the expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that expire in September and the $350 billion aid program that state and local governments can use until 2024.…
PPI’s Ben Ritz Talks Social Security with Ric Edelman
11.30.2019
The Director of PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future, Ben Ritz, joined personal-finance advisor Ric Edelman on his nationally syndicated radio show to discuss the challenges facing Social Security, their role in the 2020 election, and PPI’s proposal to strengthen the program for future generations. Listen to the interview below and read our full plan…
On the Blog: Good News for Low Income Taxpayers
10.15.2019
IRS Free File and VITA programs should be improved not discarded. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), 90 percent of taxpayers hire paid tax preparers or utilize tax preparation software to file their taxes. For low-income families the cost of tax preparation can significantly reduce the value of their refunds. A 2016 study by…
A Strong First Year for PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future
12.27.2018
As the Progressive Policy Institute’s Center for Funding America’s Future wraps up its first year, we want to thank everyone who followed and supported our work. Below you’ll find a compilation of our contributions to the public discourse in 2018. Through op-eds, blog posts, media interviews, research reports, engagement with elected officials, and public forums…
Ben Ritz Discusses New PPI Report on Two Radio Interviews
10.18.2018
Director of PPI’s Center for Funding America’s Future, Ben Ritz, participated in two radio interviews this week to discuss his new report, Defunding America’s Future: The Squeeze on Public Investment in the United States. The report explains how short-sighted fiscal policy is undermining critical investments in education, infrastructure and scientific research that are integral to the long-term…
New Report: Washington Is Crippling America’s Economic Future
10.15.2018
Public investment spending could fall to lowest level in modern history by 2026 WASHINGTON — Young Americans are having their future mortgaged by Washington lawmakers who are slashing critical public investments in future generations while simultaneously burying these generations under a mountain of debt, according to a new report published today by the Center for…
New Projections Make Clear We Can’t Afford the Trump Agenda
06.27.2018
Yesterday, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office published their first long-term budget outlook since the passage of last year’s tax cuts and February’s spending increases. In contrast to April’s budget and economic outlook, which made budget projections only for the next decade, the long-term budget outlook offers budget projections over the next 30 years – and…
Before Expanding Medicare, We Have to Pay for Current Beneficiaries
06.07.2018
It’s no secret that the American health care system is far from perfect. The United States spends a higher percentage of our gross domestic product on health care than any other country despite having comparable outcomes. And although the Affordable Care Act successfully reduced the percentage of uninsured Americans by almost half between 2010 and…
Trustees Reports Highlight Challenges Facing Medicare and Social Security
06.06.2018
The new reports released yesterday by the trustees for Social Security and Medicare warn that both programs face a growing gap between scheduled benefits and the dedicated revenue sources that finance them. If nothing is done to address the shortfalls in these programs, they will pose a grave threat to both the beneficiaries who depend…
Are Democrats Really the Party of Fiscal Responsibility? (Part 2)
04.19.2018
Earlier this week, we published a blog exploring the relationship between budget deficits and unemployment under both Democratic and Republican presidents over the last 40 years. Our analysis found that deficits under Democratic presidents rose and fell with unemployment (which is what should happen when adhering to responsible counter-cyclical fiscal policy), while deficits under Republican…
PPI Analysis of CBO’s 2018 Budget and Economic Outlook
04.10.2018
The latest report published yesterday by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office shows the United States faces a rapidly deteriorating fiscal situation. Beginning in 2020, the federal government will spend over $1 trillion more than it raises in revenue every single year in perpetuity. The government has to borrow money to finance these soaring deficits and…