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Some experts are saying that Social Security reform will not protect those presently over the age of 55 when the issue is again revisited. See story from USA Today
Privatization of Social Security would drive millions of people into poverty according to a new study. See story from One World Net
This article summarizes the formulas used to calculate Social Security benefits and how the reform proposals would modify the formula, particularly for higher income workers. See story from Knight Ridder
The idea of expanding the scope of the Social Security discussion to include wholesale pension reform is gaining supporters on Capitol Hill among Republican legislators. See story from Christian Science Monitor
The populist theme of targeting the affluent has become one of the most talked-about approaches for solving Social Security's financial problems. Taxing all income and capping benefits would fix Social Security - mathematically, at least. The program would run a permanent surplus if all income were subject to the 12.4% Social Security tax and if benefits for the affluent were capped at current levels. See story from USA Today
Policy experts across the political spectrum, who agree on little else, have told Congress in recent weeks that any effort to improve Social Security's long-term finances should somehow deal with this jump in life expectancy - by adjusting benefits, raising the retirement age, increasing taxes or creating new incentives to work longer. Not only are Americans living longer, these experts say, but most are also retiring earlier, and these demographic pressures will be heightened by the sheer size of the baby boom generation - 78 million strong - which will begin to retire in the next five years. See story from New York Times
The Christian Science Monitor summarizes the key points of the present Social Security debate. See story from Christian Science Monitor
President Bush and John Kerry have argued over many issues, but they've largely avoided talking about one of the most difficult domestic problems facing the US: the future of Social Security. See story from Christian Science Monitor
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan urged Washington policymakers to consider reducing future Social Security and Medicare benefits, saying that the nation has probably promised more to upcoming retirees than the economy can realistically deliver. See story from Washington Post
Social Security's long-term prospects are better than previously thought, a congressional report said Monday, estimating the program won't become insolvent until 2052, a decade later than projected earlier this year. See story from Associated Press
Medicare will have to begin dipping into its trust fund this year to keep up with expenditures and will go broke by 2019 without changes in a program that is swelling because of rising health costs. Social Security's finances showed little change, and its projected insolvency date remained 2042. The deteriorating financial picture for the health care program for older and disabled Americans is a result, in part, of the new Medicare prescription drug law that will swell costs by more than $500 billion over 10 years See story from Associated Press
Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Congress yesterday that the federal government has promised more retirement benefits than it can pay for and must consider scaling back those commitments soon to avoid damaging the economy in the future. See story from Washington Post
President Bush has yet to say the words, but high administration officials acknowledge that gathering fiscal problems will require rewriting the laws that promise guaranteed levels of federal benefits to seniors under Medicare and Social Security. Changes in both retirement programs are unavoidable, officials assert. The chief reason: The full, delayed impact of Bush's tax cuts will hit the Treasury precisely when the retirement of millions of baby boomers begins to send seniors' benefit costs through the roof. See story from Newhouse News Services
President Bush's aides are reviving his long-shelved plan to let workers divert some Social Security taxes into stocks as a reelection issue, gambling that market drops have not soured voters on the politically risky idea. See story from Washington Post
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