Did anyone besides me see cspan2 today? They had the National Cmte. to Preserve Social Secur.& Medicare on.
Speakers included:
Greenstein, Robert, Executive Director, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Aaron, Henry, Director, Brookings Institution, Economic Studies
Apfel, Kenneth, Commissioner, Social Security Administration
Entmacher, Joan, Vice President, National Women's Law Center
Rockeymoore, Maya, Vice President, Congressional Black Caucus, Foundation
The consensus the changes will lower basics benefits to all, but hurt the poor, women and people of color the hardest.
Henry Aaron: some thoughts from him from an article:
[The purpose of Social Security is to assure basic income. No private account can achieve that goal. All owners of private accounts must bear the risk that asset values will fall.
]In 2000-2001 when the NASDQ fell more than 70% and the S&P 500 fell nearly 50%, millions were reminded that this risk is terrifyingly real. Such a meltdown in the value of the basic income support for retirees or workers on the eve of retirement would be catastrophic.
]Furthermore, post-retirement inflation erodes private pensions. Social Security, in welcome contrast, fully protects pensioners against inflation. That is another reason why traditional Social Security must be sustained.http://www.brookings.edu/views/op-ed/aaron/20041101.htm
Robert Greenstein:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
]Replacing "Wage Indexing" With "Price Indexing" Would Result in Deep Reductions Over Time in Social Security Benefits
]One of the three Social Security plans the President's Social Security Commission endorsed at its final meeting on December 11includes a major change in the program's benefit formula that would result in large benefit reductions over time. Under this change, starting in 2009, the amount of wages that a worker who is retiring earned over his or her work career would effectively be adjusted by changes in the Consumer Price Index between the year the worker earned the wages and the present time, rather than by the change in average wages over this period. http://www.cbpp.org/12-10-01socsec.htm
also see AArp research
http://research.aarp.org/econ/dd80_carve.htm