Social Security

October 31 - To help voters better understand the fiscal implications of the candidates' campaign proposals, CRFB released four reports this week:

• Guide to Social Security: The 2008 Presidential Election
• Guide to Stimulus Proposals: The 2008 Presidential Election
• Guide to Health Care: The 2008 Presidential Election
• Guide to Tax Policy: The 2008 Presidential Election

In addition, CRFB released a special health care update to its voter guide: "Promises, Promises: A Fiscal Voter Guide to the 2008 Election".

October 30 - In a recent article, CNN.com features CRFB's and other observers' analyses of the candidates' positions on Social Security.  In particular, the article focuses on growing consensus that the candidates' have given unduly little attention to the problem of Social Security reform.  Quoting findings from CRFB's "Guide to Social Security" report, it notes that "Social Security has been mentioned in the candidates' speeches 10 percent of the time, while "change" and "health care" are brought up 60 to 75 percent of the time." CRFB President Maya MacGuineas sums up the difficult situation facing the next president:

"In many ways, you actually have to feel very sorry for the person who is going to move into the White House this January...They have a really tough battle ahead of them...They are going to have to come to terms with the fact that they made a lot of promises during a campaign that we're not going to be able to afford to pay...[but] it's critical that we fix these problems sooner rather than later."

October 22 - A report released today by the Concord Coalition identifies the nine largest fiscal challenges that the next president will face in 2009. The full list, which mixes statements about current conditions with imperatives for fiscal responsibility, includes:
1. The financial crisis and its spillover into the broader economy has become the top agenda item for the new administration, regardless of prior campaign promises.
2. Short-term fiscal stimulus must be combined with long-term fiscal discipline.
3. Fiscal stimulus should maximize bang for the buck.
4. Two problems that led to Wall Street's crisis -- lack of transparency and over-reliance on debt -- are problems for the federal budget as well.
5. Current fiscal policy is already on an unsustainable track.
6. Health care reform must reduce the growth in costs.
7. Eventually, we are going to need more revenues.
8. Over the longer term, we need to save more and consume less.
9. We need to budget as if it matters -- because it does.

October 17 - Writing Wednesday in the Des Moines Register, Obama economic advisor Jason Furman reaffirmed Obama's strategy for reforming Social Security: He writes that: "Obama is confident that we can come together to find a workable solution. He believes that one strong option to improve Social Security's long-term solvency is asking people who earn more than $250,000 to pay a little more into the system."
Obama has said in the past that he would create a new tax on those earning over $250,000 that would be between two and four percent of payroll (split between employer and employee). The tax would supplement the current 12.4 percent Social Security payroll tax that levied on the first $102,000 in wages.
Furman also noted that Obama "will not raise the retirement age or reduce Social Security benefits," and that he "strongly opposes" Social Security privatization.