AccessMyLibrary provides FREE access to over 30 million articles from top publications available through your library.
Create a link to this page
Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:
Trading up.(The Week)(financing Social Security reform)
WOULD you pay $2,000 today, to save $10,000 in 15 years' time? That question lies at the heart of the debate about financing Social Security reform.
President Bush's plan to create personal investment accounts for every worker has run into a snag over "transition costs." A transition cost is the price you have to pay to get from point A to point B. Establishing personal accounts will require about $2 trillion in government borrowing over the next 15 years, but once the accounts are in place, the government saves about $10 trillion in future obligations. Any private business with large pension obligations would approve such a refinancing plan in a heartbeat. The debt restructuring would substantially improve the firm's balance sheet, and the stock price would rise to reflect the improved long-term finances--despite the reduction in the firm's current cash flow.
Why doesn't Congress make this rational financial decision? Part of the answer is that government isn't run like a business. In fact, Uncle Sam doesn't use a balance sheet at all. This means that when the feds make promises to pay in the future--as with impending Social Security and Medicare obligations to baby boomers--those payments might as well be invisible to policymakers: They never show up in the accounting books.
Fortunately, Dr. John Templeton, the Pennsylvania-based philanthropist and public-policy entrepreneur, has devised a disarmingly simple method to blow through this government-accounting smokescreen. The Templeton Curve depicts two financial futures for Social Security. The first is the "do nothing" scenario in which we pretend the program is in fine shape and that only minor tinkering is required when ...
- SOCIAL SECURITY Q&A
- Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe August 27, 1995 700+ words
...need to work to become vested for Social Security disability benefits? A. The amount...future every time your employer takes Social Security taxes out of your pay. When you retire...eligible for retirement benefits from Social Security and you'll want to have additional...
- Social Security Q &A
- Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe August 27, 1995 700+ words
...need to work to become vested for Social Security disability benefits? A. The amount...future every time your employer takes Social Security taxes out of your pay. When you retire...eligible for retirement benefits from Social Security and you'll want to have additional...
- Social Security celebrates variety of milestones.(Neighbor)
- Newspaper article from: Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL) August 18, 2003 700+ words
...Jim Bushman District Manager, Elgin Social Security Office This month, Social Security celebrates its 68th birthday. On Aug...President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. I thought this is a good...
- SOCIAL SECURITY Q & A
- Newspaper article from: The Boston Globe July 30, 1995 700+ words
...children can qualify for help from Social Security if they HIV/AIDS? A. Yes. The...program, which is administered by the Social Security Administration. SSI disability payments...from my job reduce the amount of my Social Security benefit? A. If you get a pension...
- Social Security sellout.(COMMENTARY)
- Newspaper article from: The Washington Times March 9, 2005 700+ words
...out to sell personal accounts for Social Security with the message they don't really...totally wrong. The chief actuary of Social Security has already scored four proposals...as achieving permanent solvency for Social Security. But the White House staff doesn...
- Social Security: For the Vast Majority, the Tax That Never Stops
- Newspaper article from: The Washington Post JERRY KNIGHT April 18, 1989 700+ words
...higher state and local levies and social security taxes, so we still have to spend...used to be accompanied by a genuine Social Security Freedom Day when everybody's paychecks...fund. This year there will be no Social Security Freedom Day for 93 percent of Americans...
- Social security: the real story.
- Newspaper article from: National Forum Sherman, Gordon March 22, 1998 700+ words
...In August 1935 when he signed the Social Security Act, he noted the insecurity these...asking that question in 1998. "Is Social Security still a good deal?" and "Will it...who predict doom for the system. Social Security is arguably the country's most successful...
- Social Security's worries are just part of her day's work
- Newspaper article from: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel AVRUM D. LANK May 21, 1996 700+ words
...Wisconsin-Madison: "Do you think Social Security will be there when you need it...Chater is the U.S. commissioner of Social Security. She was in Madison as part of an...But talking about the future of Social Security to some of the smartest young people...
