Pension
Reforms |  La réforme des pensions |
U.S.
Social Security Reform - The Chilean Pension Model |
La réforme de la sécurité sociale aux É.-U.
- Le modèle des pensions au Chili |
Page révisée le 31 octobre 2007
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NOTE:
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and actuarial reports,
see http://www.canadiansocialresearch.net/hrsdc.htm#cpp
POVERTY
DISPATCH (Institute for Research on Poverty - U. of Wisconsin) |
| Google
News search Results : "Social Security,
reform, U.S." Google Web Search Results : "Social Security, reform, U.S." Source: Google.ca |
A
Primer on Federal Social Security Contributions (Canada)
By
Philippe Bergevin, Economics Division
August 27, 2007
HTML
version
PDF
version (82K, 4 pages)
"Social security contributions are increasingly
recognized by governments as an important source of revenues with which to finance
expenditures on social security programs, such as government-sponsored pension
plans and employment insurance programs. In Canada, social security contributions
at the federal level – contributions to the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans
and employment insurance premiums – totalled $39 billion in 2005-2006..."
Table
of Contents:
* Overview (Employment Insurance - Canada/Quebec Pension Plan)
* Pros and Cons (Equity - Efficiency - Administration and Compliance) * International
Context
Source:
Virtual
Library
[ Parliament
of Canada ]
The
Social Security Debate in the United States
18
August 2005
By Marc LeBlanc, Economics Division
[PDF
version - 111K, 19 pages]
Table of Contents:
* Introduction
* Origins
and Development of Social Security in the United States
--- Origins
---
Key Developments
*Current Systems
* Proposed Reforms
* The Social
Security Debate
--- Is Social Security in Crisis?
--- Personal Savings
Accounts
------ Ownership
------ Investment
------ Transition Costs
--- Addressing Social Security’s Actuarial Deficit
------ Increase Revenue
------ Decrease Benefits
--- The Need for Political Consensus
* The Canadian
Experience
* Conclusion
Source:
Parliamentary
Information and Research Service Publications <<<=== Check this out
- links to 400 studies!
[ Parliament
of Canada ]
U.S. Social Security Reform Resources (in reverse chronological order)
Top
Ten Facts on Social Security's 70th Anniversary
by Jason Furman
Revised August 11, 2005
PDF
version of this report (57K, 5 pages)
"President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act on August 14, 1935, which established
a basic compact between generations: younger workers would contribute payroll
taxes, and retired workers would have a more secure retirement. Presidents from
Dwight Eisenhower to Ronald Reagan have signed landmark Social Security reforms
to expand Social Security to provide disability insurance (1954), index Social
Security benefits so people would not become poorer as they grew older (1972),
and reform Social Security to add decades to its life (1983). As Social Security
approaches its 70th anniversary on August 14, 2005, it remains one of the most
successful and effective, as well as one of the most popular, of government programs.
It provides a universal benefit that is progressive and lifts millions of people
out of poverty. It also provides extremely valuable social insurance, providing
payments to those who need them most — including workers who become disabled,
families whose breadwinner dies, dependent spouses, and retirees who live to a
very old age and outlive their assets. (...) As policymakers contemplate changes
in Social Security, they should keep in mind 10 important facts about the program:
Fact
#1: About half of the elderly have incomes that, without Social Security, leave
them below the poverty line. Social Security lifts 13 million elderly Americans
above the poverty line.
Fact #2: Social Security does more to reduce poverty
among children than any other government program.
Fact #3: Social Security
is more than just a retirement program: one-third of Social Security beneficiaries
receive survivors benefits or disability insurance benefits. 10 million beneficiaries
are adults below the age of 65, and 4 million are children.
Fact #4: For two-thirds
of the elderly, Social Security provides the majority of their income. For one-third
of the elderly, it provides nearly all of their income.
Fact #5: Social Security
provides benefits to 48 million Americans, with the average beneficiary receiving
$10,500 per year.
Fact #6: Social Security is especially beneficial for women.
Fact
#7: Social Security is particularly important for African Americans.
Fact #8:
Social Security provides an especially good deal for Hispanics.
Fact #9: Social
Security provides a progressive benefit that keeps up with increases in the cost
of living.
Fact #10: Social Security is an extremely efficient program, with
administrative costs equaling only 0.6 percent of retirement and survivors benefits."
Source:
Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP)
"...one
of the leading organizations in the country working on fiscal policy issues and
issues affecting low- and moderate-income families and individuals. The Center
specializes in research and analysis oriented toward policy decisions that policymakers
face at both federal and state levels. The Center examines data and research findings
and produces analyses designed to be accessible to public officials, other non-profit
organizations, and the media."
See also (from CBPP):
Putting
the Social Security Debate in Context
- incl. links to : An Introduction
to Social Security - The President’s Social Security Plan - Other Social
Security Proposals - Social Security Solvency - Accomplishments of Social Security
- Social Security by the Numbers
The
Saver's Credit:
Expanding Retirement Savings for Middle- and Lower-Income
Americans - U.S.
March 2005
"(Enacted
in 2001, the Saver's Credit ... provides a government matching contribution, in
the form of a nonrefundable tax credit, for voluntary individual contributions
to 401(k)-type plans, IRAs, and similar retirement savings arrangements. Like
traditional retirement savings plan subsidies, the Saver's Credit currently provides
no benefit for households that owe no federal income tax. However, for households
that owe income tax, the effective match rate in the Saver's Credit is higher
for those with lower income, the opposite of the incentive structure created by
traditional pension tax preferences."
Complete report:
The
Saver’s Credit:
Expanding Retirement Savings for Middle and Lower-Income
Americans (PDF file - 188K, 24 pages)
Source:
Retirement
Security Project
"The Retirement Security Project is dedicated
to promoting common sense solutions to improve the retirement income prospects
of millions of American workers. It is supported by The
Pew Charitable Trusts, in partnership with Georgetown University's Public
Policy Institute and the Brookings Institution."
Google.ca
Web Search Results: "Saver's Credit"
Google.ca
News Search Results: "Saver's Credit"
Source:
Google.ca
Columbia
Research Group Warns Against Ignoring Children in Social Security Debate
News
Release
February 24, 2005
"Social Security is the single largest support
program for children in the United States Although Social Security is the single
largest program that provides support to American children, the debate over privatization
has focused almost entirely on changes in benefits for retirees. (...) While it
is true that retirees and their spouses are the largest block of beneficiaries
from the program, over 5 million children in the United States benefit from Social
Security, either directly as beneficiaries or indirectly as members of households
that receive a monthly Social Security check. Of the 48 million people who currently
receive Social Security benefits, one in three is not a retiree; one in 15 is
a child under the age of 18."
Full
Report:
Whose Security?
What Social Security Means to Children and Families (PDF file - 90K,
10 pages)
Source:
National
Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP) - New York
Related NCCP Links:
New Policy
Brief and Fact
Sheet on Social Security and Children
"Although most discussions
of Social Security focus on its retirement benefits, the program is more accurately
described as a family insurance program. Social Security is the primary, if not
the only, source of life and disability insurance for many U.S. families, especially
those headed by younger workers. Social Security is responsible for keeping many
middle- and low-income children from falling into poverty when a parent dies or
becomes disabled."
Questions
for policymakers on Social Security and Children
"...questions
policymakers should consider before proposing changes in the program that would
affect the children and spouses of deceased workers, and disabled workers and
their families."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From The White House:
State
of the Union Address
February 2, 2005
- incl. links to all related
material
On the subject
of Social Security:
Saving
Social Security for America 's Future Generations
More
on the Bush plan concerning Social Security (from The White House website)
Counterpoint:
State
of the Union: Key Policy Points
February 3, 2005
- President Tries
to Have It Both Ways: Using Misleading Numbers About A Social Security Crisis
While Advancing A Plan That Would Make Matters Worse
- New Details Indicate
Administration Social Security Plan Would Entail Several Trillion Dollars in Borrowing
- Details From the President on Private Accounts Not Likely To Answer Key Questions
- The Administration’s Misleading $600 Billion Estimate of the Cost of Waiting
To Act on Social Security
- Overview of Other Social Security, Tax Cut, and
Deficit Issues in the State of the Union
Source:
Center
on Budget and Policy Priorities
Related Link:
State
of the Union Archive
- earlier years, right back to Truman (1945)
Source:
C-Span
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Slashing
Social Security: Bush Plan Cuts Benefits
January 11, 2005
"President
Bush and certain members of Congress have made it clear that privatizing Social
Security is at the top of their agenda for 2005. The administration is likely
to advocate for Reform Plan 2 from the 2001 Report of the President's Commission;
this plan makes severe cuts to Social Security benefits. Social Security is a
successful insurance program that protects workers and their families against
the income loss that occurs when a worker retires, becomes disabled, or dies.
Privatization risks this program’s success and endangers the many individuals
who rely on its funds for survival"
Source:
Moving
Ideas
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
How
has Britain’s privatization scheme worked out? Well, today, they’re
looking enviably upon Social Security
February 2005 issue of American
Prospect Online
"A conservative government sweeps to power for a second
term. It views its victory as a mandate to slash the role of the state. In its
first term, this policy objective was met by cutting taxes for the wealthy. Its
top priority for its second term is tackling what it views as an enduring vestige
of socialism: its system of social insurance for the elderly. Declaring the current
program unaffordable in 50 years’ time, the administration proposes the privatization
of a portion of old-age benefits. In exchange for giving up some future benefits,
workers would get a tax rebate to put into an investment account to save for their
own retirement. George W. Bush’s America in 2005? Think again. The year was
1984, the nation was Britain, the government was that of Margaret Thatcher --
and the results have been a disaster that America is about to emulate."
Source:
American
Prospect Online
More American Prospect
Social Security Coverage:
Bush's House of Cards: The Privatization
Fraud
A Prospect Special Report
- links to over a dozen articles
on the Bush administration's Social Security privatization proposals
To access
this report, go to the American Prospect Online
home page and click on the Special Report: Saving Social Security link
in the left margin
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A
Really Dumb Idea
November 2004
You can sum up Social Security
privatization in four words.
By Robert Reich
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
U.S.
Social Security privatization - from Disinfopedia
"U.S.
Social Security privatization is top of the neo-conservative agenda, following
the reelection of George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidential election. Central to
the campaign is an effort to persuade US voters that the existing Social Security
system is 'in crisis' [1] (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2002146127_socsec09.html).
Meanwhile, Bush's allies at Fox News have been attacking AARP, which just happens
to oppose privatization of the system [2] (http://www.newshounds.us/2005/01/06/demonizing_aarp.php).
AARP has been in the administration's sights since at least early 2004, when an
organization with a misleadingly similar acronym, the Alliance for Retirement
Prosperity or ARP, was launched by Republican stalwarts."
Social
Security - Public Agenda Issue Guide
"Social Security, the federal
retirement system, is one of the most popular government programs in U.S. history
and nearly everyone supports keeping it solvent. But no consensus has emerged,
either in Washington or among the public at large, on what approach the government
should take. Despite the recent slowdown, the economic
boom of the past few years has helped push off the Social Security problem, with
the latest estimates showing the fund able to pay its bills through 2042."
Source:
Public
Agenda
"For over a quarter of a century, Public Agenda has been providing
unbiased and unparalleled research that bridges the gap between American leaders
and what the public really thinks about issues ranging from education to foreign
policy to immigration to religion and civility in American life."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Confusions
about Social Security (PDF file - 195K, 11 pages)
Paul Krugman
(Princeton University)
January 2005
"There is a lot of confusion in
the debate over Social Security privatization, much of it deliberate. This essay
discusses the meaning of the trust fund, which privatizers declare either real
or fictional at their convenience; the likely rate of return on private accounts,
which has been greatly overstated; and the (ir)relevance of putative reductions
in far future liabilities."
Source:
The
Economists' Voice - U.S.
(Editor: Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel laureate and
former Chief Economist of the World Bank)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Twelve
Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea
December
14, 2004
"Addressing Social Security’s potential long-term financing
challenges by taking the dramatic step of diverting its payroll taxes to create
new personal accounts will have drastic consequences for federal finances, future
retirees, and those who rely on the system the most. Learn more about twelve major
reasons why less costly and less painful reforms should be considered instead."
Source:
The
Social Security Network
[ The Century Foundation
]
Related Links:
Social
Security Administration (U.S. Government)
"Visit
the Social Security Administration Web site for publications and online resources
to help you understand your Social Security benefits, how to apply for benefits,
and the history of the Social Security program. You can also apply for benefits
online."
Social
Security Online
"The Social Security Administration's
Web site provides information about Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance
Benefits, and Supplemental Security Income.
AARP
Social Security Center
[AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership
organization for people over 50.]
"AARP maintains a special Social Security
Center on its Web site. Visit the center to test your knowledge and find answers
to some commonly asked questions about Social Security. You can also learn about
issues and challenges facing Social Security, and you can tell your elected officials
what you think about Social Security."
Four
questions (and answers) from AARP
- Is Social Security Broke?
-
Will Social Security be there for me when I retire?
- Couldn't I do better
investing the money on my own?
- But aren't I paying a lot of money now to
get a little money later?
National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
Center for Economic and Policy Research
----------------------------------------------------
Conservative/Libertarian
Counterpoint:
----------------------------------------------------
Project
on Social Security Choice
"The Cato Project on Social Security
Choice has developed a market-based alternative to the current Social Security
system. Rather than paying taxes into a government-owned fund, workers should
be allowed to redirect their payroll taxes into individually owned, invested accounts,
similar to 401(k) plans and Individual Retirement Accounts."
Source:
The
Cato Institute
["The Cato Institute seeks to broaden the parameters
of public policy debate to allow consideration of the traditional American principles
of limited government, individual liberty, free markets and peace."]
The
Heritage Foundation
"The Heritage Foundation is a research and
educational institute - a think tank - whose mission is to formulate and promote
conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited
government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national
defense."
The Chilean Pension Model
What
do pensions in Chile have to do with Canadian social programs?
It's
all about the push toward private retirement pensions and the movement to dismantle
the Canada Pension Plan..
