SOCIAL SECURITY

Fixing Social Security: A CED Policy Update

Social Security reform continues to be the top domestic issue on the national agenda. Congress must recognize the fiscal situation in considering the options to strengthening the finances of this vital program. CED has updated and restated the comprehensive Social Security reform package detailed in the 1997 CED policy statement, Fixing Social Security. The new report, Fixing Social Security: A CED Policy Update, presents CED's plan for strengthening and modernizing the system. The proposal was prepared by a distinguished task force of business leaders and academic experts. The CED plan acknowledges that some changes must be made to Social Security to prepare it for the challenges that lie ahead, and to make it more attractive to a new generation of workers; but CED also recognizes that the essential safety net provided by Social Security must be preserved. CED recommends creating a two-tier system that would both restore the fiscal solvency of Social Security and convince young contributors who perceive a low and diminishing return on their contributions that Social Security will provide a meaningful benefit to them. The first tier would return the current basic system to long-term fiscal solvency through relatively modest adjustments. The second tier would "add-on" a new system of individually controlled personal retirement accounts to increase the rate of return for younger workers.

Fixing Social Security: A CED Policy Update
Full Report

Fixing Social Security

Fixing Social Security addresses the funding shortfall of the Social Security system and the declining rates of return on contributions projected for younger workers.  This report outlines a practical, balanced reform package that combines reforms in the basic program, which would ensure its solvency and preserve a social safety net for retirees, with individual retirement savings accounts, which would raise private returns and national saving. 

Fixing Social Security
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