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April 05th, 2006Cato's Michael Tanner Visits Penn
April 05th 03:57:00 PM
Last night, S4 hosted the Cato Institute's Michael Tanner at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Students were thrilled to have the opportunity to engage a speaker named by Congressional Quarterly as one of the "five most influential experts on Social Security."
Tanner's sobering analysis that failure to reform the system in 2005 will cost taxpayers an additional $660 billion is a reminder of what is at stake with this issue.
He reiterated the need for students to continue to spread the word and mobilize in favor of accounts. "They do listen," Tanner said in reference to the phone calls S4 made in favor of the DeMint-Crapo amendment to the budget resolution last month.
S4 also presented Mr. Tanner with his very own "Don't get screwed" t-shirt. We hope he wears it with pride.
Posted by Patrick Wetherille| Comments (0)
April 04th, 2006Study: Americans don't save enough for retirement, welcome 401(k) plans
April 04th 02:35:30 PM
A study conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, a survey research firm based in Washington, D.C., has concluded that most Americans don't save enough for retirement -- with almost 4 in 10 workers 55 and older having less than $25,000 in savings. No big surprise there.
It's true that people of all ages need to save more for retirement. However, what is encouraging about the study (and maybe even a little surprising considering last year's opposition to Personal Retirement Accounts) is the overwhelming support for 401(k) plans:
Nearly 70 percent of workers said they were either strongly favorable or somewhat favorable to 401(k) and other retirement plans setting up automatic enrollment for new workers...
Ideally, PRA's in Social Security would look very similar to current 401(k) plans, and much of the worry out there that people cannot or will not be able to manage their accounts can look to this study as evidence to the contrary.
These are just more statistics in favor of what we have always been saying: Once people learn about PRA's they usually think they are a good idea. It's education that is the key.
As they say, read the whole thing.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (6)
April 03rd, 2006Reminder: Michael Tanner speaks at UPenn Today!
April 03rd 05:02:45 PM
Come see one of the world's most renowned advocates of personal accounts give a lecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
Location: University of Pennsylvania - Huntsmann Hall Room G90
Time: 7pm
Patrick left the office yesterday to head up there and attend the event. Stop by and see him!
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
March 30th, 2006China's pay-as-you-go system not working either
March 30th 11:24:25 AM
In this week's Economist there is a special report on China (subscription required). It talks about the myriad problems that China is facing, and one of them happens to be their social security system. Apparently, their pay-as-you-go system isn't working for the same reason that the US's pay-as-you-go system isn't: demographics.
Changing demographics make this all the more important. Over the next 10-15 years, the rapid ageing of the population will increasingly make itself felt. As the labour force begins to shrink, the current pay-as-you-go pension system will become unsustainable. Life expectancy in China is high by the standards of developing countries and is likely to go on rising...
The government has been trying to develop a new pension system, including elements of both pay-as-you-go and funding, whereby it invests on behalf of workers and then pays them pensions from their individual accounts. But it will be many years before China has a sufficiently mature bond and equity market to make this workable... With no expansion of pension coverage, liabilities for future pension payments could amount to 70% of current GDP.
One by one, countries all around the world are beginning to realize that pay-as-you-go is not a good way to structure a Social Security system. When will Congress wake up to this too?
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
March 29th, 2006Crapo Opinion on DeMint-Crapo Amendment
March 29th 03:20:34 PM
Read it here.
"I, for one, do not want to saddle my children and grandchildren with sky-high taxes. Furthermore, I believe that individuals have the right to make decisions about their own money. Many twenty and thirty-year-olds today have doubts about whether there will be any Social Security when they retire. This begs the question: do we fix the system now, when we can make incremental changes, or do we leave the burden for coming generations to bear when it becomes a catastrophic financial crisis? "
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (1)
March 28th, 2006Social Security a Top Concern of Americans
March 28th 02:17:05 PM
According to a recent Gallup Poll:
"the issue cited by most Americans as the one they worry about the most is "the availability and affordability of healthcare."
A total of 68% said they worried about this a "great deal." Coming in second is the social security system at 51%. "
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (1)
Townhall Showdown!!!
March 28th 12:42:44 PM
| This past Tuesday, S4 organized a discussion in North Carolina with Congressman David Price (D-4th) during one of his town hall events. |  |
During the opening remarks he addressed his goals for the next term, but unfortunately did not include any proposals for reforming our Social Security system. Twenty or more college students in the district with some of the activists from FreeedomWorks engaged the Congressman on his ideas for the future of Social Security. Read on for more..
Read More »
Posted by William Fields| Comments (0)
The Economist says current system unfair to minorities
March 28th 09:21:11 AM
In this week's issue of The Economist they mention Social Security and its unfairness to minorities. In an article about Black Americans' representation in Congress, link here (subscription required) they say:
But it is clear that the diversity of black opinion is poorly represented in government. All 43 members of the Congressional Black Caucus are Democrats. Because of gerrymandering, most come from majority-black districts. Since Republicans usually don't have a hope in such districts, the contest that matters is the Democratic primary. To win, a candidate must appeal to party stalwarts, who are typically more radical than regular voters. The effect of this on black politics is striking.
For example, black Americans tend to be quite socially conservative, but their representatives are anything but. Only four black congressmen voted to ban partial-birth abortion in 2003, though most blacks abhor the procedure. On practical issues, too, there is a disconnect. Most African-Americans favour school choice, yet not one black member of Congress voted to support a voucher programme to rescue mostly black pupils from failing schools in Washington, DC. Blacks are stiffed by the current pay-as-you-go Social Security system, because they die younger than whites and so collect fewer benefits. Yet blacks in Congress were united in their opposition to Mr Bush's tentative reform plan last year (emphasis added)
Just another reason why people from all backgrounds should support reforming the current system, which is not only unfair to minorities, but also young people, women, and anyone that thinks they should have control over their own money.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
March 27th, 2006Getting Heard
March 27th 09:57:53 AM
S4 was published Sunday in the Cincinnati Enquirer writing about Senator Mike DeWine's stand to secure benefits for our grandparents, and Senator Voinovich's failure to act.
Posted by Chris Schrimpf| Comments (0)
March 24th, 2006SS BAKE SALE what what
March 24th 10:51:15 AM
Portland State was def rockin earlier this week. Primarily b/c some of us PRA-lovers decided to host a Social Security Bake Sale on their campus.
The basis of a SS bake sale is to make people realize that our current system is MESSED up and NOT FAIR. Pricing of our baked goods were modeled after what is happening w/ our SS system, so the younger people- the freshmen and sophomore types- had to pay more for their cookies and brownies. While the upperclassmen and older people- paid less.
Senior citizens got stuff for free. So - that got people talking. check out our photo gallery for more pics. i would encourage everyone to have a bake sale- super easy way to get people talking and- sweet stuff is ALWAYS good, right?
I must say- advertising by yelling, "come eat a special brownie" tends to draw the customers in... Just an FYI for future-ss-bake-sale-hosters.
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (0)
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