Out of Their Minds: February

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The Future of Social Security: Does It Have One, and How Secure Is It?

By Rich Ehisen

The Social Security Act of 1935 promised workers that if they paid a Social Security tax onall their wages, they would be assisted in their old age with supplemental income.
    But with the system fast approaching in solvency, there’s now a growing call in political circles to reform the program. But how should that be done? Raise taxes? Cut benefits? Extend the eligible retirement age? Or support President Bush’s call to return a portion of Social Security Insurance (SSI) with holdings to those who have participated in SSI to invest in personal private accounts as they see fit?
    Prosper raised these questions with two Social Security experts of opposing views to gain their insights: Michael Tanner, director of the Washington, D.C. based Cato Institute’s Project on Social Security Choice and a supporter of privatization, and Dr. Robert Wassmer, a professor of public policy and economics inthe School of Public Policy and Administration at Sacramento State University, who opposes privatization.

Michael Tanner:
Prosper:Why should we adopt a system that allows workers to invest at least aportion of their Social Security dollars ontheir own and as they see fit?
Continued...

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