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Hot Topics: Social Security Debate

President Bush and his supporters want to privatize Social Security. The following articles will discuss the differing views this issue has sparked.

Selected articles

Due to contractual arrangements, access to some articles may be restricted to the Stanford community, and subscribers of the "Library Databases" offered through the GSB Alumni's Lifelong Learning Program. Inclusion below does not imply University endorsement of the ideas expressed.

 

Progressive Dementia. Atlantic, November 2005
The proposed changes in social security for which U.S. President George W. Bush has been stubbornly campaigning in 2005 will in all likelihood, despite a chilly public reception, surface as legislation for congressional debate this fall.
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The Personal Lockbox: A First Step on the Road to Social Security Reform. Cato Institute, Sept. 13, 2005
With President Bush's call for comprehensive Social Security reform bogged down in the morass of partisan politics, many reform advocates have suggested starting the process with smaller steps. Recently, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), Rep. Jim McCrery (R-LA), Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), Rep. Sam Johnson (R-TX), and others have proposed legislation to rebate Social Security surpluses to workers in the form of contributions to personal accounts.
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Bush Renews Drive to Overhaul Social Security. New York Times, August 30, 2005
Five years after delivering a major campaign address here about the need to revamp Social Security, President Bush returned on Monday with a similar message, urging an overhaul of the retirement system as he celebrated changes to Medicare that will take effect at the beginning of next year.
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Here's a Social Security Plan That's Really Two Plans. New York Times, July 17, 2005
The program pits two very different constituencies against each other, and trying to please both with the same policy changes is a thankless task. It's time for a healing dose of new ideas.
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Youths wooed on Social Security. Washington Times, May 23, 2005
Senior citizens might be the most outspoken on Social Security reform, but both sides of the debate have also been increasingly battling for support from people 35 and younger, who they think will be a key factor in determining the outcome.
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Deciding True Purpose of Social Security. Wall Street Journal, May 5, 2005
THE EROSION OF FDR-style social insurance -- not just Social Security, but Medicare and unemployment insurance, too -- would be applauded by some. "Unemployment-insurance programs raise unemployment," Harvard University economics professor Martin Feldstein declared recently. "Retirement pensions induce earlier retirement and depress saving. And health-insurance programs increase medical costs."
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President's Big Social Security Gamble. New York Times, Apr. 30, 2005
In proposing on Thursday night to cut Social Security benefits for future generations of retirees, President Bush made two big bets, one political, one on the substance of his policy, and if he is to succeed in remaking the retirement system, both of them will probably have to break his way.
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Social Security: What's Missing. Business Week Online, Apr. 29, 2005
Give Bush credit for putting reform on the table. Now he needs to get concrete in proposing actual fixes, such as benefit cuts or higher taxes.
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Shift Gears, Mr. President. Forbes, Apr. 25, 2005
The article comments on the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. The administration must drastically change course on Social Security. An actual plan would help the President rally public opinion and quickly dispel the following myths and fear-oriented arguments.
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Bush Renews Focus on His Plan for Revamping Social Security. New York Times, Apr. 6, 2005
President Bush tried on Tuesday to refocus attention on what he called the "accelerating problem" of Social Security, despite a surge of outside forces that have intruded on his 60-day publicity blitz for his plans to overhaul the program.
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Social Security versus Private Retirement Accounts: A Historical Analysis. Review (Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis); Mar/Apr 2005
This paper compares Social Security benefits relative to those paid from private investments: specifically, whether 2003 retirees would gain more retirement income if they had invested their payroll taxes in private accounts during their working years.
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Personal Dispute. New Republic, Mar. 21, 2005
Offers a look at why Democrats oppose United States President George W. Bush. Opposition of liberals to Bush's proposal for Social Security reform; Comparison of Bush's Social Security privatization proposal to Harvard University's retirement plan for faculty members.
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Retirement Accounts Questioned. Washington Post, Mar. 19, 2005
A new paper by Yale University economist Robert J. Shiller found that under Bush's default "life-cycle accounts," which shift assets from stocks to bonds over a worker's lifetime, nearly a third of workers would bring in less in benefits than if they remained in the traditional system.
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Debate over Social Security entering a potentially critical phase. Knight Ridder, Mar. 18, 2005
President Bush is clinging fast to his plan for Social Security investment accounts as members of Congress head home to gauge support for the idea.
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Social Security's generation gap. USA Today, Mar. 10, 2005
Good for Granddad, good for my sons.
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Social Security's generation gap. USA Today, Mar. 10, 2005
A pyramid scheme we can afford to lose.
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Retirement Effects of Proposals by the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security. National Tax Journal, Mar. 2005
The effects on retirement of proposals by the President's Commission to Strengthen Social Security are simulated using an econometric model of retirement and saving.
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Understanding the Social Security Debate. FRBSF Economic Letter, June 25, 1999
This Economic Letter reviews some of the basic facts about the U.S. Social Security system, describes how it is financed and the factors contributing to its future insolvency, and discusses options for restoring its financial health.
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Page updated by: Nora Richardson