Social Security System Problems

Generally, Republicans identify themselves as social and fiscal conservatives who believe in limited government and individual personal and financial responsibility. Consequently, as a group, they regularly seek to limit what they call ôgovernment entitlement programs,ö such as Medicare, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (ôwelfareö), and Social Security. They view these programs as extravagant government giveaways that cause expensive and inefficient bureaucracy and, therefore, higher taxes.

In 2001, President George BushÆs Commission to Strengthen Social Security advocated a significant change in Social SecurityÆs funding system (Shaw & Weller, 2004). Currently, the system is funded by payroll taxes on the first $87,900 of an individualÆs income. The system, however, is identified as a ôpay as you goö system because monies that are paid into the Social Security trust fund today by all workers are used to pay retirement benefits for retirees who are eligible today. The system, therefore, is not truly a retirement savings program because each retiring generation is not

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.) advocated rolling back recent tax cuts for the wealthy as a means of addressing Social SecurityÆs funding issues. Kerry believes that AmericaÆs current deficit spending increases interest rates on AmericaÆs debt burden, which decreases the money available for Social Security. He and other Democrats strongly oppose any reduction in Social Security benefits (Kerry for President, 2004; Crutsinger, 2004). Kerry argues that Social Security is currently in crisis primarily because the Bush Administration has run up such high deficits (Crutsinger, 2004). Kerry advocates turning back BushÆs recent tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans as a means of reducing the budget deficit that Kerry claims is indirectly starving Social Security. In particular, Democrats point to the fact that Social Security ran a surplus during the late 1990s when the government also had a surplus in its general appropriations budget. The governmentÆs current deficit spending, however, increases its interest rates, which results in even greater deficits (Crutsinger, 2004). In addition, Democrats oppose privatization of Social Security because they believe it will actually increase costs to workers and worsen the systemÆs financial outlook (Shaw & Weller, 2004
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1696
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)