Joan Vennochi’s Sept. 13 op-edcolumn (“Warren must sell substance over Brown’s flash”) was an excellent summary of how substantive issues have taken a back seat in this year’s Senate race. But Vennochi did not mention the one issue that tops my list: how to preserve Social Security benefits for future generations.
Many agree that because seniors are living longer, more money must be added to the Social Security trust fund to maintain full benefits for future seniors. This invariably means applying payroll taxes to income over $110,100 (the current cap) or increasing the payroll tax rate, or both. But since Senator Scott Brown has signed the Grover Norquist no-new-taxes pledge, he presumably wouldn’t support such changes. The status quo means reduced benefits for future seniors.
I can understand why Brown may not want to talk about this, but I can’t understand why Democratic Senate candidate Elizabeth Warren doesn’t bring it up.