WASHINGTON–The Concord Coalition today urged all participants in the
White House Conference on Social Security to address the program’s
long-term problems in a constructive and bipartisan manner.
WASHINGTON–The Concord Coalition today urged all participants in the
White House Conference on Social Security to address the program’s
long-term problems in a constructive and bipartisan manner.
"While there is not an immediate crisis, Social Security reform is on the
political agenda because the program is unsustainable in its current form
over the long-term," said Concord Coalition Executive Director Martha
Phillips. "We must remember that Social Security is projected to begin
running cash deficits in just 15 years. Early action will produce less
abrupt and disruptive solutions."
To that end, the Concord Coalition believes the following four themes
should be kept in mind during this week’s conference and the upcoming
legislative debate:
- 1. The choice among options is not between "guaranteed" future benefits
under the current system and "risky" or "burdensome" reform. The only
guarantee about the benefit promises of the current system is that they are
substantially unfunded.2. Reforms involving individual accounts should not be compared with a
hypothetically solvent status quo. The proper comparison is between a
reformed system with individual accounts and a reformed system without
individual accounts.3. The current debate is not about the retirement security of those who
have left the workforce, or those who will leave the workforce in the near
future. The debate is about the retirement security of those who have many
working years left, and those who are still in grade school. For them,
doing nothing is the worst option.4. There is no free lunch. Each reform involves trade-offs and each option
comes with a fiscal or political price, regardless of whether it aims to
shore up the current pay-as-you-go system or involves a transition to a
prefunded or partially prefunded system.
"Partisanship is the enemy of Social Security reform," said Phillips. "The
three national Social Security forums the Concord Coalition co-sponsored
this summer with the AARP prove that this discussion can be civil and
bipartisan in nature. We hope the spirit of the conferences held this
summer will carry over to the White House Conference this week and into the
legislative debate to be held early next year."
MEDIA ADVISORY: More information about Social Security reform, including
transcripts of the three national "Great Social Security Debate" forums
Concord co-hosted with the AARP, is available on the Concord Coalition web
site (http://www.concordcoalition.org).
