The Motivation Behind Social Security Reform
Grok Headline matches for The Motivation Behind Social Security Reform
Why You Hate, and Like, Social Security
Why You Hate, and Like, Social Security
09/16/2004 03:28 PMIs Social Security an important part of civilized society, or just
another form of welfare?
The coming war over Social Security
The coming war over Social Security
01/05/2005 11:31 AMFortunately, 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.
Retirement's First Leg: Social Security
Retirement's First Leg: Social Security
07/01/2004 01:50 PMHow 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 PMThere'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 Technology Behind the Social
Security Debate
The Technology Behind the Social
Security Debate
04/06/2005 09:56 AMExtreme Tech Apr 6 2005 1:42PM GMT
A homerun for privatizing Social
Security?
A homerun for privatizing Social
Security?
04/04/2005 09:55 PMTommy Lasorda has come out of retirement to go to bat for President
Bush's humdinger of a plan.
Fixing the Social Security Mess
Fixing the Social Security Mess
06/17/2004 08:35 AMSocial Security Fight Like Election (AP)
Social Security Fight Like Election (AP)
04/02/2005 08:02 PMAP - 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 Better Off Than
Forecast, Report Says
Social Security Better Off Than
Forecast, Report Says
06/15/2004 10:10 AMThe Congressional Budget Office said Monday that the outlook for the
Social Security program was less dire than the Bush administration had
projected.
Social Security and Corporate America
Social Security and Corporate America
04/11/2005 05:59 AMwashingtonmonthly.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 PMThe 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.
ITunes Undermines Social Security
ITunes Undermines Social Security
11/12/2003 01:22 PMAlthough 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.
Bush, race and Social Security
Bush, race and Social Security
03/14/2005 06:14 PMThe president suggests that privatization opponents think a "certain
race" lacks the capacity to invest.
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…
Direct and Related Links for 'Baby
Boomers And Social Security'
Social Security Said to Go Broke in 2041
(AP)
Social Security Said to Go Broke in 2041
(AP)
03/23/2005 07:50 PMAP - 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.
Does Social Security shortchange blacks?
Does Social Security shortchange blacks?
02/05/2005 09:14 PMBush says it does -- but the facts show that he's dealing this race
card off the bottom of the deck.
A Big Push On Social Security
(washingtonpost.com)
A Big Push On Social Security
(washingtonpost.com)
01/01/2005 04:24 PMwashingtonpost.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.
E-Government Motivation
E-Government Motivation
01/06/2005 09:12 AMline56 Jan 6 2005 1:58PM GMT
Kerry, Greenspan Differ on Social
Security (AP)
Kerry, Greenspan Differ on Social
Security (AP)
08/28/2004 08:21 AMAP - 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.
Save Social Security: Where Do Your
Legislators Stand?
Save Social Security: Where Do Your
Legislators Stand?
12/22/2004 01:06 AMSaveSocial Security blog .. A new
weblog
savesocialsecurity.blogspot.com
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site | 3 links
Saving the already-saved Social Security
system
Saving the already-saved Social Security
system
02/01/2005 09:14 PMI 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.
Bush Not Revealing Social Security
Details (AP)
Bush Not Revealing Social Security
Details (AP)
02/01/2005 08:25 PMAP - 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.
Wall St. on Social Security sidelines
(USATODAY.com)
Wall St. on Social Security sidelines
(USATODAY.com)
12/22/2004 01:22 AMUSATODAY.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.
E-Mail Advises Bush on Social Security
(AP)
E-Mail Advises Bush on Social Security
(AP)
01/05/2005 11:48 PMAP - 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.
G.O.P. Divided as Bush Views Social
Security
G.O.P. Divided as Bush Views Social
Security
01/06/2005 12:46 AMPresident Bush is confronting a deep split within his own party over
how to proceed on his plan for privatizing Social Security.
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 AMJosh 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.
"Republican "plan": starve Social
Security"
"Republican "plan": starve Social
Security"
04/14/2005 03:59 PMSocial Security Battle Likely (Los
Angeles Times)
Social Security Battle Likely (Los
Angeles Times)
01/05/2005 06:06 AMLos 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.
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 PMUSATODAY.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 PMwashingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45726-2005Jan3?language=printer
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Greenspan sounds alert on Social
Security
Greenspan sounds alert on Social
Security
08/29/2004 01:41 AMSeattletimes.nwsource.com - Sun Aug 29, 02:57 am GMT
Greenspan Sounds Alert on Social
Security (AP)
Greenspan Sounds Alert on Social
Security (AP)
08/28/2004 04:27 AMAP - For at least the fourth time this year, Federal Reserve Chairman
Alan Greenspan has touched the electrified third rail of American
politics — Social Security.
Battle Ahead Over Social Security Report
(AP)
Battle Ahead Over Social Security Report
(AP)
03/23/2005 04:45 AMAP - 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.
GOP Leaders Weigh New Social Security
Plan (AP)
GOP Leaders Weigh New Social Security
Plan (AP)
04/07/2005 08:08 PMAP - 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.
Trustees: Social Security Broke in 2041
(AP)
Trustees: Social Security Broke in 2041
(AP)
03/23/2005 12:54 PMAP - 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.
Social Security Bill Eases Up on
Accounts (AP)
Social Security Bill Eases Up on
Accounts (AP)
06/22/2005 02:56 AMAP - 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.
Social Security Number The Key To
Identity Theft
Social Security Number The Key To
Identity Theft
01/05/2004 04:54 AMYou'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.
Ken Brown's Motivation, Release 1.2
Ken Brown's Motivation, Release 1.2
05/21/2004 05:24 PMOn 20 May 2004, I posted a statement refuting the claim of Ken Brown,
President of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution, that Linus
Torvalds didn't write Linux. My statement was mentioned on Slashdot,
Groklaw, and many other Internet news sites. This attention resulted
in over 150,000 requests to our server in less than a day, which is
still standing despite yesterday being a national holiday with no one
there to stand next to it saying "You can do it. You can do it." Kudos
to Sun Microsystems and the folks who built Apache. My statement was
mirrored all over the Internet, so the number of true hits to it is
probably a substantial multiple of that. There were also quite a few
comments at Slashdot, Groklaw, and other sites, many of them about me.
I had never engaged in remote multishrink psychoanalysis on this scale
before, so it was a fascinating experience.
Democrats Say Social Security Problems
Overstated (Reuters)
Democrats Say Social Security Problems
Overstated (Reuters)
06/14/2004 03:06 PMReuters - A new government report suggests
Social Security's financial problems may be less than commonly
believed and that radical reforms including privatization of
the retirement system are unnecessary, congressional Democrats
said on Monday.
Grok Description matches for The Motivation Behind Social Security Reform
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The Motivation Behind Social Security Reform
