Ryan Mahoney
Ap government
November 13, 2010
Dem/Repub. Contrast Paper
Social Security Reform
Social Security has recently become an increasingly discussed issue among the public and government officials. The Social Security Act Signed by President Franklin Roosevelt on August 14, 1935, has been a helpful resource for the elderly and retired peoples. It secures their retirement with a required, pay-as-you-go payment system regardless of the economic situation in the economy. But with all the Baby-Boomers beginning to retire, Social Security may only be able to pay the young people of today, two-thirds of their benefits when they retire. So recently, starting with the Bush administration, questions have arisen about whether Social Security should be reformed. Some are even questioning if Social Security should become a strictly private market matter. This debate between whether private or public is best for Social Security has become a largely disputed topic among Republicans and Democrats and has caused division between the two political parties.
The Democratic Party believes that Social Security should not be privatized at all. They believe that Social Security is the number one source of income for the retired and should not be changed. In her paper about Social Security Reform, Mary H. Cooper said about the Democrats beliefs that, “Personal accounts amount to a backdoor assault on one of the country's most successful entitlement programs” (qtd in Cooper). The Democrats fear that privatizing or changing Social Security, will ruin or worsen the situation in the economy and make people worse off in their retirement. When talking about privatization and the use of personal investment accounts, Joan Entmacher, vice president for economic security at the National Women's Law Center, says, “rather than improving Social Security's long-term financial shortfall they would make it worse” (qtd in Cooper). Also, in the Democratic Party Platform for America, the Democrats specifically said that they oppose the privatization of Social Security and that the most important step they could take would be to strengthen Social Security instead (qtd in “The Democratic Party on Social Security” par. 5). So overall it is safe to say that most democrats oppose the privatization of Social Security and would rather look to other types of reform rather than privatization.
The Republicans believe that privatization is a viable option for Social Security reform. It was first introduced by the Bush Administration in 2005 and has been an issue discussed since then. The Republicans believe that workers should have the choice to invest some of their payroll taxes into personal investments for their retirement future (qtd in “Republican Party on Social Security” par. 1). Also, many conservatives siding with the Republicans and the personal investment plan agree that this would be the best option because it reduces the role of government in general (Cooper par. 14). Of course many Republicans believe that complete privatization would not be ideal but rather that partial privatization would be the best course of action. It would supposedly overtime make up for the money being lost in the Social Security program, but this would take many years for the revenue gained from privatization to catch up to the debt developed through Social Security (Bernstein 7,9). Many Republicans are torn as to what they believe, but they were the first to develop the discussions on privatization of Social Security.
Social Security is slowly running out of funds and will soon be outputting more money than its receiving. Some Democrats believe that there is only a need for minor reform and that overtime when the baby-boomers are gone, the Social Security program will stabilize again and privatization is unnecessary. But others such as Republicans believe the only way to balance out the debt created by Social Security is to introduce privatization or partial privatization. There is no sure way to tell which route is the best to take but something must change. Privatization or not, there is a consensus that Social Security needs reforming for the improvement of society as a whole.
Bibliography
Bernstein, Aaron. “Social Security: Are private accounts a good idea?” (January 24, 2005). N.pag. Bloomberg Business. Bloomberg. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.<http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_04/b3917001_mz001.htm>
Cooper, Mary H. “Social Security Reform.” (September 24, 2004). 781-804. CQ Researcher. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.
“Historical Background and Development of Social Security.” (October 6, 2010). n.pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2010. < http://www.ssa.gov/history/briefhistory3.html >
“The Democratic Party on Social Security.” (February 10, 2010). n.pag. Web. 13 Nov. 2010.<http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Democratic_Party_Social_Security.htm>
“The Republican Party on Social Security.” (February 10, 2010). Web. 13 Nov. 2010. <http://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Republican_Party_Social_Security.htm>
