Social Security | Archives

Research and Publications

Social Security Under Attack

05.08.2001 | The most recent annual report by the Social Security trustees confirms that with normal economic and productivity growth, Social Security will easily pay full benefits through 2075 and beyond, even with longer average life spans. Unfortunately, several factors have converged to reinforce belief in a phony crisis, and the mistaken belief that Social Security is on the verge of bankruptcy and must be radically reformed. | Read

Bush’s Individual Account Proposal: Rhetoric Versus Reality

03.01.2001 | George W. Bush won plaudits during the recent election campaign for “starting a conversation” on Social Security. Unfortunately, the discussion thus far has been long on misleading rhetoric and short on hard facts. | Read

Social Security Trustees Report 2002 - An Analysis

03.01.2002 | The 2002 Annual Report of the Social Security Trustees confirms that our nation’s premier poverty fighting program is in excellent financial health. The program has accumulated sufficient reserves to finance the retirement of the baby boomers, and will have the resources to pay even higher benefits to today’s young workers and their children. | Read

Social Security Trustees Report 2001 - An Analysis

03.01.2001 | The Trustees of the Social Security Trust Fund issued their 2001 annual report on March 19, 2001 showing a system that is fundamentally healthy, and confirming that fears of a “Social Security crisis” are unfounded. The trustees project program costs and income a full 75 years into the future based on numerous assumptions about population trends and the economy. | Read

Board of Trustees Announce: Social Security Fully Funded for 37 Years

03.01.2001 | In each of the last three years, the trustees have pushed back the date when projected Social Security revenues will fund only partial benefits. With the U.S. economy growing at an annual rate of 4.3% since 1996 and continued increases in worker productivity, the trustees’ report for spring 2000 extended full solvency for Social Security for three additional years, to 2037 | Read

Bush’s Individual Account Proposal: Rhetoric Versus Reality

03.01.2001 | George W. Bush won plaudits during the recent election campaign for “starting a conversation” on Social Security. Unfortunately, the discussion thus far has been long on misleading rhetoric and short on hard facts. | Read

Pension Privatization in Britain: A Boon to the Finance Industry, a Boondoggle to Workers

09.01.2000 | Proponents of Social Security privatization often claim that their motive is to help workers. Armed with sunny sales pitches and multi-million dollar marketing budgets, privatizers claim that individual accounts would give workers “better returns,” “freedom of choice,” and “improved efficiency.” Interestingly, though, these groups that are purportedly fighting for workers are not funded by workers, but by the finance industry. |  Read

Social Security Privatization in Chile: A Case for Caution

09.01.2000 | Proponents of Social Security privatization often trumpet the Chilean “success story.” Right wing economists (and the finance industry-funded think tanks that sponsor them) spin fabulous yarns about the way the free market transformed Chile’s pension system. In doing so, however, they leave out crucial parts of the plot. Privatization advocates paper over very serious problems with Chile’s social security program. |  Read

Fact Sheets

The Perils of Bush's Social Security Plan

03.01.2001 | Read

Social Security Fact Sheet

02.01.2001 | Read

Social Security and Public Opinion

06.01.1999 | Read