October 17th, 2006

The Independent Women's Forum has a great article from Carrie Lukas about the reasons that women should support Social Security reform.  "Every day without Social Security reform is a missed opportunity for real savings," Lukas writes.  The article then goes on to discuss how policymakers can fix Social Security.

One excellent point in the article is that the initial investment in personal accounts is worth making.  Critics call this the "transition cost," but this is misleading.  If we don't make a transition to personal accounts, the cost of the status quo is much greater.  The huge costs that would result from doing nothing are why Social Security reform is, as Lukas writes, "one of the most pressing problems facing our country."

October 16th, 2006

A newspaper in Missouri asks: "Which strategy for securing the future of Social Security would you support?"  Predictably, many of the respondents are upset that Congress continues to raid the trust fund. 

Using the name "cvilla," one reader comments: "[O]ur social security system has been looted for years by the very people who have pledged to serve in our best interest."

It's interesting that when people are forced to make a decision about how to solve Social Security by choosing from a limited number of options, they realize that personal accounts are a great solution to insolvency.  This fact does not become evident when people are asked a series of questions but not forced to suggest a solution, which is often what happens in surveys about Social Security. 

Social Security's problems do not have an endless number of solutions; they're all in the newspaper's survey.  We can cut benefits, increase taxes, create accounts, or combine at least two of these three approaches.  Those are the only choices we have.  Small wonder, then, why opponents of personal accounts tend to be quiet about how they want to secure our future.

October 13th, 2006

In an interview on Fox News yesterday, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson discussed his support for entitlement reform.  Citing private conversations with politicians on both sides of the aisle, Paulson said that there is "broad agreement" about the need to address Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. 

From the Fox News transcript:

"I say, what they said to me was that they understand that as we look ahead, we have a big structural deficit. They understand that the structural deficit impairs our economic flexibility, if we don't reform the programs, impairs our competitiveness, and impairs the retirement security of a younger generation of workers today."

October 12th, 2006

In a speech on the economy and budget at the White House yesterday, President Bush talked about the problems facing our entitlement programs.  "The health of these programs...is in serious jeopardy," Bush said, pledging that he and Treasury Secretary Paulson will work to "solve these entitlement programs once and for all."  

Read an excerpt of the speech below.  Click here for the entire transcript.

"We've made good progress, as I mentioned to you, in getting the fiscal house in order, but there's another problem with our budget, and that has to do with mandatory spending, particularly with Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These are really important programs. They're called entitlement programs because when each of us retire we're entitled to a benefit, in Social Security for example.

And yet the health of these programs -- the health is in serious jeopardy. Why? Because there's a lot of people like me and Paulson who are fixing to retire. (Laughter.) As a matter of fact, both of us reach retirement age at the same time, which is in 2008. That's quite convenient in my case. (Laughter.)

But unlike the previous generation, there's a lot more of us, and we've been promised greater benefits than the previous generation. In other words, the government has made promises with a future generation's money that we can't keep. And so the fundamental question facing the government in Washington, D.C. is: Will we have the will necessary to deal with these entitlement programs to leave behind a better budget picture to deal with the unfunded liabilities and the mandatory programs for future generations?

One reason Secretary Paulson came to work in this administration is because he wanted to understand whether or not we were committed to continue trying to bring Social Security reform, to modernize the system. Look, you don't have to cut benefits. You've just got to slow the rate at which benefits are growing in order to make sure a future generation is not strapped with a budgetary system that is unaffordable.

And I assured -- I assured Hank that I was deeply committed to working to solve Social Security, because I believe the call for those of us who are blessed to be in public service is to confront problems now. It's so much easier to quit and just say, let's let another Congress deal with it. The problem is, is that the longer we wait, the more costly it becomes for future Congresses. And so now is the time. Now is the time. And Hank and I are going to -- after these elections come and go, we're going to work with the leaders, and to say, we're all responsible for getting something done. My hope is, in the last two years of this administration, we can set aside needless politics and focus on what's right for the United States of America and solve these entitlement programs once and for all. (Applause.)"

October 11th, 2006

We've determined that Jewel (critically recognized singer and poet) is most likely a supporter of personal retirement accounts, whether she knows it or not.  In her "Who Will Save Your Soul," from the 1995 club banger "Pieces of You," Jewel sang:

"You got Social Security, but that don't pay your bills
There are addictions to feed and there are mouths to pay
So you bargain with the devil, say you're o.k. for today,
You say that you love them, take their money and run
Say it's been swell, sweetheart, but it was just one of those things
Those flings, those strings you've got to cut"

The song is clearly about the misuse of the Social Security "trust fund" and the fact that young people are being taxed without regard to our future.  We're getting strung along without personal accounts because too many politicians are addicted to pork. 

These are foolish games indeed.  Thanks, Jewel.

October 10th, 2006

On behalf of our children and grandchildren, I respectfully urge Congress to work in the coming year toward a bipartisan solution to strengthen Social Security for the long term by putting aside partisan politics and seeking common ground.

October 06th, 2006

October 05th, 2006