Just to get your mind to pondering... check out these exerpts regarding Social Security
Fox News July 30
The signed bill that delineates these new regulations is a response to the accounting scandals at WorldCom, Enron, Tyco and other large companies which left thousands of employees without retirement savings and investors with valueless stock shares.
"This new law sends very clear messages that all concerned must heed. This law says to every dishonest corporate leader: 'You'll be exposed and punished. The era of low standards and false profits is over. No board room in America is above or beyond the law,'" Bush said.
Fox News July 30
Earlier in the day, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina told the Democratic Leadership Council that fiscal responsibility has vanished from the government since Republicans claimed the White House from the Clinton administration.
"Washington can't ask businesses to do more unless we live up to our responsibilities as well," the senator said. "We can't just complain about Enron's books. We have a duty to put our own books in order."
The federal government has returned to deficit spending and the parties are bickering out whether that was caused by Bush's tax cut or by a combination of the war on terror and an economic downturn.
"There is no economic leadership coming from the White House," Daschle said. "If they won't lead, Democrats will." "In the span of a year, this administration has turned fiscal responsibility on its ear," said Kerry, "turning a budget surplus into a budget with endless deficits spurred on by an irresponsible and unfairly structured tax cut."
Republican national chairman Marc Racicot said the Democrats' criticism rang hollow coming from senators who had failed to pass a budget during a time of war and economic uncertainty. He described that failure as "an abdication of responsibility and failure of leadership."
DLC members call themselves New Democrats, who believe in blending a pro-business approach with traditional Democratic values. They say it's fair to criticize the Bush administration for being too closely allied with big business.
National Center For Policy Analysis
But demographic factors are accelerating Social Security's problems: Life expectancy is increasing faster than expected -- in 1940, a 65-year-old man could expect to live another 12 years, today it's 15 years, and by 2040 it will be 17 years. The fertility rate is falling faster than expected -- from 3.6 children for a typical woman of child-bearing age in 1960 to just two today and a projected 1.9 by 2020 -- and is already less than the rate of 2.1 needed just to replace the existing population. The elderly portion of the population is expected to rise from 12 percent today to 20 percent by 2050 increasing the number of retirees from 34 million to 80 million. The smaller working-age population and larger elderly population means that where there were more than five workers for each retiree in 1960 and 3.3 workers per retiree today, by 2030 there will be just two workers to pay the taxes for the benefits of each retiree.
Heritage Foundation Executive Memorandum- by David C. John
Americans' Lack of Knowledge About Social Security.
Although Social Security is the government's most popular program, many Americans now little about how it operates and how its benefits compare with the returns from other retirement investments. For example: Millions remain convinced that Social Security maintains a savings account in each of their names with money in it, even though there is no direct connection between the amount of taxes paid and the benefits an individual eventually receives in retirement. Few realize the low rate of return on Social Security retirement taxes. For example, a household of two working, 30-year-old earners with children averages a mere 1.2 percent. Most do not know that the trust funds consist only of IOUs and that, even if these are fully repaid with future taxes, Social Security will be insolvent by 2015 unless it is reformed.
Giving Americans the Facts.
For most Americans, the YSSS, which goes to 123 million workers annually, will be their sole source of official information on the benefits they should receive in retirement. Yet these statements downplay or omit important information about those benefits. They include an accounting of Social Security taxes the individual worker has paid to date, the worker's eligibility for benefits, and an estimate of the various types of benefits the worker and/or family could receive under different circumstances; but while workers are told that they will receive a specific dollar amount from Social Security, they are not told that the money may not be there for them. Nor are they given any idea of the return on their taxes. Provisions in H.R. 634 and S. 354 are designed to ensure that workers receive a more complete picture of Social Security's financial future in their benefit statements. The proposed changes in the YSSS would inform workers about:
How Social Security's projected financial difficulties could affect payment of their benefits. A general (and easily overlooked) paragraph on these problems is hidden at the end of a letter from the Social Security Commissioner, and the reference to Social Security's financial problems does not clearly state that these problems will apply to the individual worker and his or her personal benefits. Under the Straight Talk bill, the YSSS would inform workers that although benefit estimates are based on current law, Social Security's financial problems could cause it to pay less than that amount. A similar disclosure is required of underfunded private pension plans by the U.S. Department of Labor; Social Security would simply match this standard. How Social Security's trust funds differ from private-sector trust funds. In its fiscal year 2000 budget document, the OMB explained that the Social Security "trust funds" do not contain stocks, bonds, or other assets that could be sold directly for cash. Unlike private-sector trust funds, the Social Security trust funds contain only IOUs that will have to be paid back with future taxes. As the OMB noted:
These balances are available to finance future benefit payments...only in a bookkeeping sense. They do not consist of real economic assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits, or other expenditures. The Straight Talk bill would require the SSA to include similar text in future statements. The estimated rate of return on Social Security retirement taxes paid. The Straight Talk bill would require that the YSSS include a chart that plots implicit rates of return by birth year. Similar to a chart found in the GAO's August 1999 report on Social Security's rate of return, this chart would illustrate that the rate of return from Social Security has decreased both steadily and dramatically. Workers would see that unless the current system is reformed, they can expect a lower rate of return on their taxes paid than their parents and grandparents received. More important, they would see that their children and grandchildren will receive even less from Social Security in the future.
Conclusion.
Working Americans should be told the truth about Social Security's financial future and
its impact on the retirement benefits they expect to receive. As taxpayers, they should have a right to this information, which can be provided by the Social Security Administration at little or no cost. The additional information provided pursuant to H.R. 634, S. 354, and similar bills would go a long way toward enhancing the quality of the Social Security debate and enabling Americans to plan more realistically for their retirement years.
