WASHINGTON — The
Concord Coalition has placed a full-page advertisement in this
Sunday’s New
York Times (October 1, 2000) offering voters hard facts and five questions to
ask the candidates about Social Security reform.
WASHINGTON — The
Concord Coalition has placed a full-page advertisement in this
Sunday’s New
York Times (October 1, 2000) offering voters hard facts and five questions to
ask the candidates about Social Security reform.
The ad is signed by Concord Coalition Co-Chairs, former Senators Warren B. Rudman
(R-N.H.) and Sam
Nunn (D-Ga.), and Concord Coalition
President Peter
G. Peterson, former Secretary of Commerce. The
full text of the ad, including five charts, is now available on-line. (Requires
Adobe Acrobat Reader) Excerpts from the ad follow:
“To the American voter: We at The
Concord Coalition believe that an honest debate over Social Security reform ought to be at
the center of this year’s presidential campaign.
Thus far, it has not been. The two
candidates acknowledge the need for Social Security reform, but the only bottom-line
changes they talk about are benefit expansions. They
are avoiding the real challenge, which is to make the program affordable and sustainable
in a much older America. The Concord
Coalition offers you, the American voter, the following facts and questions to ask the
candidates…
1.
Every official projection shows that senior
benefits, including Social Security, will claim a ballooning share of federal spending in
the decades to come. What concrete measures
do you propose to prevent these benefits from crowding out other spending?
2.
What is your plan for redeeming Social
Security’s trust-fund IOUs after 2015, and does it rely on spending cuts, tax
increases, or borrowing?
3.
How do the middle-class tax cuts you’re
now pushing square with the enormous tax hikes that will soon be needed to pay for all the
benefits that have been promised to seniors?
4.
Given what’s projected for the future of
Social Security, do you think it’s responsible to assure working Americans that they
will retire with all of their promised benefits – and maybe more – without any
increase in anyone’s contributions?
5.
Over the next 75 years, future Social Security
deficits are projected to outweigh future Social Security surpluses in today’s
dollars by more than 20 to 1. How will your
plan prevent a massive increase in federal debt?
These perspectives do not encompass, by any means, all the issues raised by Social
Security reform. But The Concord Coalition
believes they do provide an honest framework for debating the transformation that
America’s largest and oldest benefit program must undergo in order to fulfill its
vital mission in the new century. You, the
American voter, must choose. By facing up to
genuine Social Security reform, you can compel the candidates to address the aging
challenge while the economy is booming, the budget is in surplus, and the demographics are
favorable. Or you can allow the candidates to
engage in denial and diversion until the window of opportunity closes.”
The Concord Coalition is a nonpartisan, grass roots organization dedicated to
balanced federal budgets and generationally responsible fiscal policy. The organization
does not endorse, support or oppose candidates for public office or political parties.
