Why You Hate, and Like, Social Security

Grok Headline matches for Why You Hate, and Like, Social Security

Retirement's First Leg: Social Security

Retirement's First Leg: Social Security 07/01/2004 01:50 PM
How much will you get for the thousands you've given to Social Security?

About that Social Security plan...

About that Social Security plan... 04/07/2005 10:45 PM
There've been a number of reasons in recent weeks to think that President Bush's plan is in serious trouble. Today, there's another.

The coming war over Social Security

The coming war over Social Security 01/05/2005 11:31 AM
Fortunately, it looks like the Democratic Party is starting to circle the wagons and get serious about battling the Bush administration's plan to eviscerate Social Security in the name of a mythological crisis, and in the service of the private investment industry. Social Security may well be in need of reform, but as Ronald Brownstein reports in the L.A. Times, some key Dems are coming to their senses about making private investment accounts a fundamental part of it.

The Technology Behind the Social
Security Debate

The Technology Behind the Social
Security Debate 04/06/2005 09:56 AM
Extreme Tech Apr 6 2005 1:42PM GMT

Does Social Security shortchange blacks?

Does Social Security shortchange blacks? 02/05/2005 09:14 PM
Bush says it does -- but the facts show that he's dealing this race card off the bottom of the deck.

Bush, race and Social Security

Bush, race and Social Security 03/14/2005 06:14 PM
The president suggests that privatization opponents think a "certain race" lacks the capacity to invest.

Social Security Better Off Than
Forecast, Report Says

Social Security Better Off Than
Forecast, Report Says 06/15/2004 10:10 AM
The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the outlook for the Social Security program was less dire than the Bush administration had projected.

ITunes Undermines Social Security

ITunes Undermines Social Security 11/12/2003 01:22 PM
Although perusing other folks' digital music libraries using iTunes can broaden musical horizons, there can be drawbacks. Like being judged for your taste in music. By Leander Kahney.

A homerun for privatizing Social
Security?

A homerun for privatizing Social
Security? 04/04/2005 09:55 PM
Tommy Lasorda has come out of retirement to go to bat for President Bush's humdinger of a plan.

Social Security Said to Go Broke in 2041
(AP)

Social Security Said to Go Broke in 2041
(AP) 03/23/2005 07:50 PM
AP - Social Security will begin paying out more in benefits than it receives in taxes in 2017, twelve years from now and a year earlier than previously estimated, trustees said Wednesday in a forecast adding fuel to the debate over changes President Bush wants.

Social Security Fight Like Election (AP)

Social Security Fight Like Election (AP) 04/02/2005 08:02 PM
AP - Just five months after the presidential election, Democratic lawmakers are traveling throughout the country to campaign anew against President Bush and his agenda.

Social Security and Corporate America

Social Security and Corporate America 04/11/2005 05:59 AM

washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2005_04/006069.php
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Good-Will Is Low for Social Security
Talks

Good-Will Is Low for Social Security
Talks 12/19/2004 02:57 PM
The parties have not been this far apart ideologically on Capitol Hill for decades, some analysts say, which could make an overhaul of Social Security hard to achieve.

A Big Push On Social Security
(washingtonpost.com)

A Big Push On Social Security
(washingtonpost.com) 01/01/2005 04:24 PM
washingtonpost.com - President Bush's political allies are raising millions of dollars for an election-style campaign to promote private Social Security accounts, as Democrats and Republicans prepare for what they predict will be the most expensive and extensive public policy debate since the 1993 fight over the Clinton administration's failed health care plan.

The Motivation Behind Social Security
Reform

The Motivation Behind Social Security
Reform 02/05/2005 09:47 PM
Tonight's State of the Union address by the president focused in part on Social Security. Many are asking why the sudden interest in a system that seems to be working just fine. Isn't the president taking big political risks for nothing by doing this? In fact there are serious problems that are compelling the administration to take immediate action on Social Security funding.

Baby Boomers And Social Security

Baby Boomers And Social Security 03/23/2005 10:38 PM
“NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress that the mounting financial pressure of a wave of retiring baby boomers is so great that cuts in future government retirement benefits are all but inevitable.” Well, that’s just great. I’m on the wazoo end of being a baby boomer, just barely qualifying. I know, baby boomers are defined as being the population explosion caused by the ending of WWII, which apparently caused massive…

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Fixing the Social Security Mess

Fixing the Social Security Mess 06/17/2004 08:35 AM

G.O.P. Divided as Bush Views Social
Security

G.O.P. Divided as Bush Views Social
Security 01/06/2005 12:46 AM
President Bush is confronting a deep split within his own party over how to proceed on his plan for privatizing Social Security.

"Republican "plan": starve Social
Security"

"Republican "plan": starve Social
Security" 04/14/2005 03:59 PM

Social Security Number The Key To
Identity Theft

Social Security Number The Key To
Identity Theft 01/05/2004 04:54 AM
You've all seen them (and most people have probably filled them out): some random form for something or another that asks for your social security number. Many retail shops (such as video rental stores) ask for them - but they have no reason to know that information. People are growing increasingly concerned because having someone's social security number is usually a key piece for doing some identity theft. Of course, these days, getting your hands on someone else's social security number is pretty damn easy - and part of that is because people ask for it all the time, and most people comply. Many people either don't realize how important the number is or just don't want to complain about it being asked for - even if, in many cases, these firms have no right to know. Of course, that's never going to change. Instead, what we should be working towards is a system that doesn't require a permanent and easily copied number like a social security number to prove you are who you say you are. It's like having a not very secret password that's impossible to change. Not very secure. Until a more secure system is standard, the problem isn't likely to go away.

Happy New Year! Do you know where your
Social Security dollars are?

Happy New Year! Do you know where your
Social Security dollars are? 01/03/2005 01:11 AM
Josh Marshall's regular postings on the Social Security debate have been impassioned, persistent and invaluable. Today's Talking Points Memo lays out, in different and probably clearer language than I have been able to muster, the point I've been intermittently making here about the Bush Administration's duplicitous case for Social Security "reform" -- that the "crisis" Bush and co. are scaring the nation with is one of their own making, since they've squandered so much of the fiscal reserve set aside precisely to shore up the retirement system's future:

After 1980 we started borrowing money big-time to finance our deficits -- in large part because of tax cuts on high-income earners. However you want to slice it, we started spending substantially more than we were taking in in tax revenue. So where'd we borrow the money? This is from memory, so I may have the numbers a bit off. But I believe about $4 trillion of that debt was borrowed on the open market -- individual Americans have them in their investment portfolios, or pension funds hold them, or the Chinese, Japanese and the Saudis and others have them in bonds. But about $3 trillion of those dollars we needed to fund the 1980s and 1990s deficits we managed to borrow closer to home. We borrowed it from the Social Security (and a few other government) trust fund(s). Almost the entirety of President Bush's Social Security phase-out plan comes down to a simple proposition: finding out how not to pay it back.

Josh's writing here comes close to the "It's a Wonderful Life"-style clarity on this subject that so often eludes even our most gifted economist-pundits, and that I ached for a month ago. As this debate unrolls in the New Year, he is someone to keep up with.

BONUS LINK [Via Brad DeLong]: For those interested in delving a bit more into the numbers, this post by Brad Setser is a great complement to Marshall's.

Wall St. on Social Security sidelines
(USATODAY.com)

Wall St. on Social Security sidelines
(USATODAY.com) 12/22/2004 01:22 AM
USATODAY.com - As some of the most powerful lobbying engines rev for the impending fight over how to revamp Social Security, one is relatively quiet: Wall Street.

Trustees: Social Security Broke in 2041
(AP)

Trustees: Social Security Broke in 2041
(AP) 03/23/2005 12:54 PM
AP - The trust fund for Social Security will go broke in 2041 — a year earlier than previously estimated — the trustees reported Wednesday. Trustees also said that Medicare, the giant health care program for the elderly and disabled, faces insolvency in 2020.

Save Social Security: Where Do Your
Legislators Stand?

Save Social Security: Where Do Your
Legislators Stand? 12/22/2004 01:06 AM
SaveSocial Security blog .. A new weblog

savesocialsecurity.blogspot.com
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Social Security Bill Eases Up on
Accounts (AP)

Social Security Bill Eases Up on
Accounts (AP) 06/22/2005 02:56 AM
AP - With the acquiescence of their leaders, key House Republicans are drafting Social Security legislation stripped of President Bush's proposed personal accounts financed with payroll taxes and lacking provisions aimed at assuring long-term solvency.

E-Mail Advises Bush on Social Security
(AP)

E-Mail Advises Bush on Social Security
(AP) 01/05/2005 11:48 PM
AP - The success of President Bush's push to remake Social Security depends on convincing the public that the system is "heading for an iceberg," according to a White House strategy e-mail that makes the case for cutting benefits promised for the future.

Bush: It's time to fix Social Security
(USATODAY.com)

Bush: It's time to fix Social Security
(USATODAY.com) 12/19/2004 03:35 PM
USATODAY.com - President Bush said Thursday that "now is the time to confront Social Security" by allowing younger workers to invest part of their payroll tax in the stock market.

washingtonpost.com: Social Security
Formula Weighed

washingtonpost.com: Social Security
Formula Weighed 01/04/2005 06:19 PM

washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45726-2005Jan3?language=printer
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Social Security Battle Likely (Los
Angeles Times)

Social Security Battle Likely (Los
Angeles Times) 01/05/2005 06:06 AM
Los Angeles Times - WASHINGTON — Two groups of prominent Democratic centrists plan to oppose the centerpiece of President Bush's proposal to restructure Social Security, potentially dimming administration hopes of building bipartisan support for its top domestic priority.

Greenspan sounds alert on Social
Security

Greenspan sounds alert on Social
Security 08/29/2004 01:41 AM
Seattletimes.nwsource.com - Sun Aug 29, 02:57 am GMT

Kerry, Greenspan Differ on Social
Security (AP)

Kerry, Greenspan Differ on Social
Security (AP) 08/28/2004 08:21 AM
AP - John Kerry doesn't talk much about Social Security on the campaign trail, but he laid out some thoughts for a voter in Everett, Wash., who doubted that the government retirement program is really in trouble.

Bush Not Revealing Social Security
Details (AP)

Bush Not Revealing Social Security
Details (AP) 02/01/2005 08:25 PM
AP - President Bush will outline ideas about strengthening Social Security but will not spell out all the details of a plan to fix the system's financial problems when he delivers his State of the Union address Wednesday night.

Battle Ahead Over Social Security Report
(AP)

Battle Ahead Over Social Security Report
(AP) 03/23/2005 04:45 AM
AP - Both sides in the pitched battle over Social Security are getting ready to argue over a whole new set of numbers — the annual assessment of when Social Security and Medicare will go broke.

Greenspan Sounds Alert on Social
Security (AP)

Greenspan Sounds Alert on Social
Security (AP) 08/28/2004 04:27 AM
AP - For at least the fourth time this year, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has touched the electrified third rail of American politics — Social Security.

GOP Leaders Weigh New Social Security
Plan (AP)

GOP Leaders Weigh New Social Security
Plan (AP) 04/07/2005 08:08 PM
AP - Senate Republican leaders are considering whether to seek Democratic support for Social Security legislation without the personal accounts sought by President Bush, aiming to restore them later, officials said Thursday.

Saving the already-saved Social Security
system

Saving the already-saved Social Security
system 02/01/2005 09:14 PM
I received some feedback via email regarding my post, No smoking gun in Iraq from January 13th. One reader wrote: Gee, I remember back in 1998 the Clintons and just about every Democrat in Congress were screaming that the budget "surplus" should only be used to "save Social Security." If you believe Social Security needed saving back then and doesn’t now then you must believe it has already been saved. Well, who saved it? Clinton didn’t do anything, so the only answer can be George W. Bush. So following the logic of the Democratic talking points that Social Security is not in crisis (which you have clearing bought into for whatever reason) to be consistent historically you must be willing to admit that someone saved Social Security already and you should be able to tell us who that was. Further you must be able to tell us what transpired in the last six years in the Social Security budget to take it from needing to be "saved" to no longer being in crisis. Are you willing to blog on that a bit? I could blog on that for a bit (and address the issue of conflating talk of long-term Social Security reform with "crisis" and an immediate push towards privatization), but it's a lot easier to point everyone to someone who can do a much better job of it than I: Hendrik Hertzberg at The New Yorker. In this week's Talk of The Town, Unsocial Insecurity Mr. Hertzberg writes: "This is one of my charges, is to explain to Congress as clearly as I can: the crisis is now," Bush proclaimed at an "economic summit" a month ago. He does indeed have some 'splaining to do. This year, the Social Security system--the payroll tax, which brings money in, and the pension program, which sends money out--will bring in about $180 billion more than it sends out. It will go on bringing in more than it sends out until 2028, at which point it will begin to draw on the $3.5 trillion surplus it will by then have accumulated. The surplus runs out in 2042, right around the time George W. Bush turns ninety-six. After that, even if nothing has changed, the system's income will continue to cover seventy-three per cent of its outgo.That's using the Social Security Administration's economic and demographic assumptions, which are habitually pessimistic. Using the assumptions of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the surplus runs out in 2052. And if one uses the economic growth assumptions that Bush's own budget office uses when it calculates the effects of his own tax cuts, the surplus runs out in--er, maybe never. I do support some kind of Social Security reform, if only to ensure that the surplus never runs out. But I question the language of "crisis" and the rush to privatization -- a solution that Hertzberg points out that even White House officials and The Comptroller General of the United States, David M. Walker, say does nothing to eliminate the long-term gap and maintain the solvency of the fund.

Medicare Outlook Called More Dire Than
Social Security

Medicare Outlook Called More Dire Than
Social Security 03/23/2005 10:11 PM
A report predicted that the monthly Medicare premiums paid by almost all Americans 65 and older would rise by another 12 percent next year.

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social
Security With Billions

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social
Security With Billions 04/05/2005 09:23 AM
The estimated seven million illegal workers in the U.S. provide Social Security with a subsidy of as much as $7 billion a year.

AARP Opposes Private Social Security
Accounts

AARP Opposes Private Social Security
Accounts 12/30/2004 02:29 PM
AARP Says No To Bush ... The AARP is coming out strong against private Social security investment accounts, saying they "will actually make the problem worse, not better." In January they plan to spend $50 million on an ad campaign opposing privatization. Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly has also been awesome in pointing out that the common wisdom that Social Security is in trouble is just not true.
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Why You Hate, and Like, Social Security

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