2008 Woodie Awards
Longtime Program in Need of Fixing to Go on Living
Ariel Adrian
Issue date: 3/9/05 Section: Opinions
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In the State of the Union address delivered Feb. 2, 2005, President George W. Bush focused on restoring the Social Security system.
"Thirteen years from now, in 2018, Social Security will be paying out more than it takes in," Bush said.
For citizens who are 55 and older, the Social Security system will not change, but for the younger workers a serious problem is on its way.
People are living longer than when Social Security was created.
With current life expectancy in the low-70s for men and high-70s for women, fewer workers are paying benefits to support the increasing number of retirees, Bush said.
The system is on the path to bankruptcy and must be reformed.
The Bush plan to preserve the Social Security system includes allowing younger workers to set aside a portion of their Social Security money in a personal retirement account.
The purpose of this account is to ensure that the worker's money will grow over time by investing it into the stock market.
The money that ends up in this personal account would be the worker's to keep and the government would be unable to touch it. The worker would also be free to pass on the money from this account to his or her children.
Personal accounts would provide workers with greater security in retirement, Bush said.
Under the current system, a certain amount of money is taken out of each worker's paycheck to support today's retirees, who, of course, supported the generations that preceeded them.
However, this same system cannot ensure that a 25-year-old is guaranteed to see his or her Social Security benefits since the number of retirees is growing faster than the work force.
Personal retirement accounts are a good idea. They could provide additional money for retirement along with the check workers may receive from Social Security as a retiree.
The money in the personal accounts will be invested into a conservative combination of bonds and stock funds, according to the president's plan.
"Thirteen years from now, in 2018, Social Security will be paying out more than it takes in," Bush said.
For citizens who are 55 and older, the Social Security system will not change, but for the younger workers a serious problem is on its way.
People are living longer than when Social Security was created.
With current life expectancy in the low-70s for men and high-70s for women, fewer workers are paying benefits to support the increasing number of retirees, Bush said.
The system is on the path to bankruptcy and must be reformed.
The Bush plan to preserve the Social Security system includes allowing younger workers to set aside a portion of their Social Security money in a personal retirement account.
The purpose of this account is to ensure that the worker's money will grow over time by investing it into the stock market.
The money that ends up in this personal account would be the worker's to keep and the government would be unable to touch it. The worker would also be free to pass on the money from this account to his or her children.
Personal accounts would provide workers with greater security in retirement, Bush said.
Under the current system, a certain amount of money is taken out of each worker's paycheck to support today's retirees, who, of course, supported the generations that preceeded them.
However, this same system cannot ensure that a 25-year-old is guaranteed to see his or her Social Security benefits since the number of retirees is growing faster than the work force.
Personal retirement accounts are a good idea. They could provide additional money for retirement along with the check workers may receive from Social Security as a retiree.
The money in the personal accounts will be invested into a conservative combination of bonds and stock funds, according to the president's plan.