According to a simulation run by the GAO in November 2010 "roughly 92 cents of every dollar of federal revenue will be spent on net interest costs, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid by 2020." For the Medicare and Medicaid programs benefit cuts, premium raises and other changes appear inevitable. Meanwhile, retirement of the baby boom generation means that according to current projections Social Security will no longer be able to pay full benefits starting 2037. Social Security is dubbed the "third rail of American politics." While the solvency problem can be addressed from different angles—benefits, the COLA, retirement age and payroll taxes—none of them is easy. Free market advocates suggest introduction of personal savings accounts. Real leadership will be required to address the entitlements situation.
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
The
White
House-Seniors
&
Social
Security
U.S.
Social
Security
Administration
-Social
Security History
-Actuarial Resources
U.S. Department of HHS-Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services
-StopMedicareFraud.gov
["60 Minutes" reported in 2009 that Medicare fraud totaled "about $60 billion a year."]
U.S.
House
Committee
on
Ways
and
Means-Subcommittee
on
Social
Security
U.S.
Senate Special Committee on Aging
Government
Accountability
Office-Medicare
and
Medicaid
Congressional
Budget
Office-Social
Security
"The
Moment
of
Truth"
-
draft
report
of
the
National
Commission
on
Fiscal
Responsibility
and
Reform
The Commission, established by President Obama,
was charged with developing recommendations to balance the federal
budget by
2015. It met for eight months in 2010 and at the beginning of
December voted 11-7 on a draft report including proposed changes to
Medicare and Social Security to save billions of dollars; however the
Commission needed 14 votes to issue a final report.
ORGANIZATIONS
ProCon.org-Should Social Security be Privatized?
"Promoting critical thinking, education, and informed citizenship by presenting controversial issues in a straightforward, nonpartisan, primarily pro-con format."
National Institute on Retirement Security
"NIRS seeks to encourage the development of public policies that enhance retirement security in America."
American
Institute
of
CPAs-360
Degrees
of
Financial
Literacy | FeedthePig.org
"the nation's only consumer organization dedicated solely to protecting and promoting the retirement security of American workers, retirees, and their families."
National Academy of Social Insurance
"a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization made up
of the nation’s leading
experts on social insurance. Its mission is to promote understanding of
how social insurance contributes to economic security and a vibrant
economy."
"convened by five organizations – the AFL-CIO, the Economic Policy Institute, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, the Pension Rights Center, and the Service Employees International Union – that recognize that retirement income security is a major issue of concern for current and future retirees."
"Social Security Works convened a group of organizations to address threats to the well-being of Social Security by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform and others. In June, 2010, this group formalized to become the Strengthen Social Security campaign."
"a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that
helps people 50 and over improve the quality of their lives."
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
"to protect, preserve, promote, and ensure
the financial security, health, and the well being of current and
future generations of maturing Americans.
"to promote and assist members and supporters, to
educate and alert
senior citizens about their rights and freedoms as U.S. Citizens, and
to protect and defend the benefits senior citizens have earned and paid
for."
AFL-CIO
| Alliance
for
Retired
Americans | Campaign
for
America's
Future
"improving the lives of children, youth, and older people through intergenerational strategies, programs, and public policies. "
Students for
Saving Social Security
[2005-09...no longer active] "a
nonpartisan
organization
that
educates
and
mobilizes
young
Americans
on
the
coming
crisis
in
Social
Security."
Advocated
"Allowing
younger
workers the option to save at
least 4 percent of their payroll taxes in a personal account."
"Our mission is to increase public awareness of the
nature and
urgency of
key fiscal challenges threatening America's future and to accelerate
action on them."
THINK TANKS
Brookings
Institution-Retirement
Security
Project
Cato Institute-Social
Security
Center
for
American
Progress-Retirement
Center
for
Economic
and
Policy
Research-Social
Security
&
Retirement
Economic
Policy
Institute-Retirement
The Century
Foundation-Retirement Security
Heritage Foundation-Retirement Security
Institute for Policy Innovation-Entitlement Reform
National Center for Policy
Analysis-Common Sense Retirement Policy
Urban
Institute-Retirement
Policy
PARTY PLATFORMS
Democrats, Republicans and Major Third
Parties
