istributions to the 77 million members of the baby boom generation who will become eligible for Social Security benefits in the next four years (Associated Press, 2004). Second, Republicans argue that the system is an unfair tax on younger workers, who may pay taxes to support benefits for retirees and then only be eligible for lesser benefits themselves when they retire (Murphy, 1999).
Republicans, therefore, strongly advocate for significant changes in Social Security. In 2001, President Bush advocated for the creation of individual private savings accounts (PSAs) as a supplement to payroll taxes as a means of funding retirement benefits. Essentially, this proposal calls for individuals to have the choice of depositing part of what is now collected from their payroll taxes for the Social Security trust fund into personal accounts that can be managed for retirement savings by private investment companies. Generally, Republicans argue that allowing workers to divert a portion of their payroll taxes into these personal and privately-managed accounts will allow for a higher rate of return on such funds and will remove the inequity of having one set of workers fund another set of workersÆ retirement.
Democrats, on the other hand, differ on their fundamental view of Social Security. Generally, Democrats tend to support government-funded programs that provide financial and lifestyle assistance to citizens of limited means. Thus, Democrats often support the concept of a
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