Social Security or Insecurity, continued... American Prospect Online - ViewWeb

More on the Social Security scare... Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal: A Weblog: The Economic Policy Institute on Social Security

Scary--Social Security really secure?.... The prospect of tying Social Security accounts to the stock market, which is the lynchpin of President Bush's privatization effort, is a dangerous idea. The justification for the privatization plan is that the Social Security Fund is in danger of insolvency. Many economists don't buy this allegation, citing figures that demonstrate that there will be funds to pay Social Security claims into the 2050's. While there are advantages to a privatization scheme (such as domestic partners' being able to inherit benefits of the deceased partner, much the same way that the legally married are now able to do) there is no safety net proposed in the event that Social Secuity accounts vanish if the stock market fails. The great, possibly foolhardy, optimism buttressing the privatization scheme should be replaced with a more concrete plan: raising the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes. Those who make the most money are presently not required to pay Social Security taxes on the totality of their income, and they should be required to do so.