| 来源类型 | Article |
| 规范类型 | 评论 |
| Top ten myths of Social Security reform | |
| Kevin A. Hassett; Kent Smetters; Jeffrey R. Brown | |
| 发表日期 | 2005-10-01 |
| 出版年 | 2005 |
| 语种 | 英语 |
| 摘要 | For the complete paper, please go here Introduction The U.S. Social Security system has been one of the most successful public policy programs in our nation’s history. Established during the depths of the Great Depression, the benefits provided through the Social Security system have helped to prevent poverty among millions of Americans after retirement, during periods of disability, or after the death of a family breadwinner. Unfortunately, the pay-as-you-go financial structure of the system is not well designed to handle the substantial demographic changes that are underway in the United States. Estimates by the Office of the Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration indicate that the existing combination of scheduled taxes and scheduled benefits leaves an $11 trillion hole in the system over an infinite time horizon. As a result, the only way that Social Security can continue to pay the currently-scheduled benefits to future generations is to impose an ever-larger tax burden on younger workers. While academic researchers and public policy experts have long recognized that the existing combination of scheduled benefit levels and scheduled tax rates is not sustainable in the long run, Social Security has been viewed as politically “untouchable.” While there have been periods of time during which political leaders have made extensive efforts to raise awareness about Social Security, the issue reached a fevered pitch only after the re-election of President Bush in November 2004. In a press conference the day after the election, President Bush announced that “I earned capital in the campaign, political capital, and now I intend to spend it” on Social Security and other priorities. Social Security reform featured prominently in the President’s State of the Union address on February 2, 2005, which was then followed by a multistate tour designed to build public support for reform. Over this same period, opponents of the President’s Social Security reform plan initiated a major political campaign of their own. Democrats in the U.S. House and Senate unified themselves in opposition to the President’s plan to “privatize” Social Security. Interest groups such as the AARP launched a multi-million dollar public relations and advertising campaign against the inclusion of individual accounts in Social Security. Thus, in addition to being an important public policy and economic issue, Social Security is a highly controversial political issue. In this highly politicized environment, a number of “myths” about the impact of reform have gained some currency in the public debate. Both opponents and proponents of personal accounts have contributed to the mythology surrounding Social Security reform. In the spirit of a previous article published in this journal that examined the top ten myths of Social Security, the purpose of this article is to critically examine ten leading myths of Social Security reform in the United States. |
| 主题 | Economics ; Aging |
| 标签 | Entitlements ; Social Security |
| URL | https://www.aei.org/articles/top-ten-myths-of-social-security-reform/ |
| 来源智库 | American Enterprise Institute (United States) |
| 资源类型 | 智库出版物 |
| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/241474 |
| 推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714 | Kevin A. Hassett,Kent Smetters,Jeffrey R. Brown. Top ten myths of Social Security reform. 2005. |
| 条目包含的文件 | 条目无相关文件。 | |||||
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