As all of us Social Security reform lovers have begun to notice that Senator Clinton continually refuses to talk about her stance on the issue, we decided to put her on our "Missing Persons" list. Because she is headed to the southwestern part of New Hampshire later this week, we decided to inform students in that region of her apparent lack of concern for our generation.
Students at Keene State College were surprised to learn that the senator is missing...on the issue of Social Security reform. Many expressed concern that she is silent on such an important issue for our generation.
Let's hope we can make the senator see how important our generation's retirement security is and begin to talk more openly about solutions...this for sure would take her off the "missing" list and give her more of a chance to reach the "rockstar" list!
Today, Fred Thompson was in New Hampshire and four S4 members were able to catch up with him as he stopped in Manchester at the NH campaign headquarters.
S4 members told Fred they care about Social Security reform and were wondering if personal retirement accounts were part of his plan.
We were happy when he said, "Why yes! That's part of my plan!"
Kudos to Fred Thompson for embracing this topic and showing that he is looking out for future generations' retirement security!
Hillary Clinton says that when her husband left office – Social Security was projected to be solvent until the year 2055. She contends that now – solvency is predicted to end in 2041 – a loss of 14 years – because of what she calls "fiscal irresponsibility" by the Bush administration.
But the Social Security Administration says that its official statistics at the end of 2000 put the solvency year at 2037 – not 2055. It says that the current figure is – as Mrs. Clinton states – 2041. But instead of it being a 14 year loss – it is actually a four year gain.
FOX News asked the Clinton campaign repeatedly Monday and today to provide the source for that claim that the projection was 2055 when Bill Clinton left office – but so far we have received no response.
"The gloves are off — sort of. Barack Obama has signaled that the time has come for him to begin drawing distinctions between himself and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton," CBS news reports.
"If we have failed to have a real, honest conversation about Social Security, it will not get fixed...I don't want to just put my finger out to the wind and see what the polls say. I want to bring the country together to solve a problem."
Washingon, D.C. - Students for Saving Social Security (S4), the nation's largest youth organization dedicated to Social Security reform, extends its gratitude today to the presidential candidates who clearly supported personal retirement accounts during Sunday evening's Fox News Republican debate.
"I think the reality is that we have to deal with Social Security," said Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "The first thing we have to do is get a consensus behind private accounts if we're going to change it," he continued, earning applause from the Orlando audience.
Giuliani's remarks also found support among his fellow candidates. Governor Romney endorsed the concept that we use the "surplus money that's being gathered now in Social Security and put that into private accounts," while Governor Huckabee stressed the individual empowerment offered by real savings that are protected from Congressional borrowing. Senator McCain also weighed in favorably on personal accounts after explaining: "We've got to fix it for the future generations of America. Don't we owe that to young Americans today?"
Evan Dent begins her walk across New Hampshire today...dressed as an ostrich! Her message to the 2008 presidential candidates: Get your "heads out of the sand" and fix Social Security.
Here is a map of the ostrich's route:
The walk begins in Keene today and includes stops in Henniker tomorrow, Concord on Thursday, Manchester on Friday, Londonderry on Saturday, and Durham and Portsmouth on Sunday.
Russell Bailyn, a young wealth manager and blogger, has come out with his book Navigating the Financial Blogosphere, a wonderful introduction to personal finance. The book (which you can see on his blog) covers a variety of topics such as building credit, paying for school, and picking mutual funds, though the most important chapter is about...Social Security, of course!
There are three great things about this book. First, Mr. Bailyn keeps it simple. He explains the difference between 401(k) and 403(b) plans, for example, without the technical jargon or dry details one might expect of a personal finance book.
Second, he directs you to relevant Web sites so that you can get further information without any additional cost. Want to find out which credit card is best for you or which bank has the best interest rates? Bailyn tells you which sites to visit.
Which brings me to the third reason this book is great: The chapter on Social Security lists the S4 site as one of four "Web Hot Spots" for learning more about the issue. Bailyn, who believes that a protected account is "the only solution currently on the table that makes sense," writes:
S4...is a site created by students for students to spread the word about how Social Security issues affect them. As I mentioned in the first part of the chapter, younger workers will ultimately shoulder the burden of national debts, Social Security and otherwise, more than workers nearing retirement.
The Treasury Department issued its second of four Social Security briefs yesterday in an attempt to find common ground for reform. In addition to taking on key questions such as generational equality and trust fund accounting, the brief reviewed an important point from the first report:
"[C]urrent and future generations who will bear the financial burden of making Social Security permanently solvent will face some combination of benefit and/or tax adjustments amounting to $13.6 trillion in present-value terms."
The brief also includes some informative graphs, one of which shows that the lifetime net benefit rate for the average worker born between 1960 and 1990 will be negative 2% or worse.
To see the graphs and read the entire brief, visit Treasury's Web site here.
According to a recent Washington Post Blog Senator Clinton does not believe that Social Security is "a front-burner issue." When Clinton visited New Hampshire yesterday, the S4 team let her know that their future is absolutely a front-burner issue!
