The Boston Globe: on Social Security
Al Gore:
Open questions: future surplus & future discipline
| Bush | Gore |
|---|
- Allow investing an unspecified amount of payroll taxes in the stock market.
- Does not preclude decreasing guaranteed benefits for future retirees.
| Use the federal budget surplus
to pay down the debt and use the interest saved to keep Social Security solvent.- Subsidized retirement savings plan open to families earning up to $100,000 a year.
|
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
- Will the
government bail out people who make poor investment decisions?
- What about the costs of making the transition to & then maintaining the accounts?
- If some payroll taxes are diverted to private accounts, how will the government make up the difference
for current retirees?
| - What if future administrations don’t display the kind of fiscal discipline Gore’s plan requires?
- What if the projections of budget surplus money to pay down the debt doesn’t come true?
|
Source: Associated Press in Boston Globe, p. A10
Jul 5, 2000
George W. Bush:
Open questions: transition costs & bad investors bailouts
| Bush | Gore |
|---|
- Allow investing an unspecified amount of payroll taxes in the stock market.
- Does not preclude decreasing guaranteed benefits for future retirees.
| Use the federal budget surplus
to pay down the debt and use the interest saved to keep Social Security solvent.- Subsidized retirement savings plan open to families earning up to $100,000 a year.
|
| Unanswered questions |
|---|
- Will the
government bail out people who make poor investment decisions?
- What about the costs of making the transition to & then maintaining the accounts?
- If some payroll taxes are diverted to private accounts, how will the government make up the difference
for current retirees?
| - What if future administrations don’t display the kind of fiscal discipline Gore’s plan requires?
- What if the projections of budget surplus money to pay down the debt doesn’t come true?
|
Source: Associated Press in Boston Globe, p. A10
Jul 5, 2000
Rick Santorum:
Raise retirement age? Maybe. Private investment? Yes.
Senator Santorum, on a videotape made in 1994, said he planned to raise the retirement age for Social Security benefits and to privatize the program. Santorum says he believes that Social Security should not be paid out until workers hit
the age of 70. “It is ridiculous that we have a retirement age in this country of age 65 today,” Santorum says emphatically, noting that many people receive benefits for two decades before dying. “Push it back to at least age 70,” continues the
senator. “I’d go even further if I could, but I don’t think I could pass it.”Santorum has since backed away from raising the retirement age, but he’s in the forefront of pushing for younger workers to be allowed to invest
part of their payroll taxes themselves. He says it is their money and they have a right to try for better returns than the program currently provides.
Source: Jill Zuckman, Boston Globe, p. A1 & A12
May 15, 2000
Rick Santorum:
Social Security needs reform sooner rather than later
Santorum says the Social Security program is in grave danger of going bankrupt and if the future insolvency is not addressed now, it will be much more difficult to deal with later. “There’s an absolute certainty that Social
Security will run out of money, and benefits will be cut and taxes will go up,” Santorum said. “[Democrats] are ignoring the fact that Social Security is in trouble; they’re just saying, ‘Oh, this is a risky scheme.’”
Source: Jill Zuckman, Boston Globe, p. A12
May 15, 2000
Ron Klink:
Social Security bridges the generations; keep it as is
Congressman Ron Klink calls Social Security “a sacred bond between the generations.” As vehemently as Santorum wants to change the program, Klink wants to maintain it in its current form. “All of a sudden, Rick Santorum and many others are saying what
I pay is my money,” Klink said. “Instead of bridging and uniting the generations and having them take care of each other, it’s dividing the generations.” Klink points out that the program is expected to be solvent for the next 37 years. At most, he
believes there are “some slight changes that can be made,” but wants nothing that would alter the current structure. He views Santorum’s proposals as needless and risky. If the bull market becomes a bear, Klink says, the federal government would be left
with no choice but to make up for people’s investment shortfalls rather than to leave seniors destitute. “We do not need the drastic kinds of changes that will destroy the system that the senator and others are proposing,” Klink said.
Source: Jill Zuckman, Boston Globe, p. A12
May 15, 2000
Page last updated: Oct 11, 2020