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President Clinton has initiated a national debate regarding the future of Social Security, which many believe will be financially insolvent by 2032. The president challenged Congress in his State of the Union address "to craft historic, bipartisan legislation to achieve a landmark for our generation -- a Social Security system that is strong in the 21st Century." This week, Mr. Clinton brought the debate to the American people in his second town hall meeting on the topic.
Recognizing Social Security's uncertain future, lawmakers have begun examining ways to stabilize the system. Proposals being discussed include, raising the eligibility age, increasing the Social Security payroll tax or some form of privatization, which would allow workers to invest a portion of their social security payroll tax.
Although privatization has its strongest support amongst Republican Congressmen, two senior
ranking Democrats have recently embraced the idea. Senators Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) and Robert Kerrey (D-NE) have introduced "The Social Security Solvency Act of 1998," which would cut the Social Security payroll tax by 2 percent and allow workers to invest the tax cut in personal savings accounts.
The idea of privatizing Social Security has set off a major debate. Henry Aaron, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, has recently stated that allowing Americans to play "financial roulette with part of their core [economic] protection would undermine" Social Security's purpose -- ensuring a reliable income for America's retirees.
But Carolyn Weaver, resident scholar at American Enterprise and proponent of privatization, contends "it's no
longer a question of whether we will have
private investment accounts in the years ahead
for all Americans to replace a portion of Social
Security, but just how quickly we'll get to that
point."
What do you support? What risks do you see with privatization? What advantages? What questions do you have regarding the future of Social Security?
Answering your questions are Henry Aaron, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and Carolyn Weaver, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and director of AEI's Social Security
and Pension Project.
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