Free Republic

WASHINGTON - Work till you're 69 before getting full Social Security benefits? That's one possibility — for Americans who retire two decades or more into the future — as Republicans on a key Senate committee review suggestions for improving the program's solvency. No decisions have been made yet, and it could be fall before the politically volatile Social Security issue reaches the floor of either the House or Senate, if then. At the same time, an increase in the retirement age is one of the suggestions that Sen. Charles Grassley (news, bio, voting record), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee,...

President Bush spent Tuesday replenishing his party's coffers and, in the face of resistance to his Social Security plan and much of the rest of his second-term agenda, struck an aggressive new tone by accusing Democrats of standing for nothing but obstructionism. "I'm going to continue to call upon the United States Congress, members of both political parties, to stand up, to do what's right for a young generation of Americans coming up, to fix this Social Security system once and for all," Mr. Bush told a gathering of the Future Farmers of America on the campus of Pennsylvania State...

<p>Key Senate Republicans are considering gradually raising the Social Security retirement age as high as 69 over several years as they struggle to jump-start legislation that President Bush has placed atop his second-term agenda, officials said Tuesday.</p> <p>Raising the retirement age is unpopular, according to some surveys.</p>

How many times have you heard that health care costs are rising at record rates? Well, they aren't any more. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that health care costs rose 7.5 percent in 2004, well under the 11.4 percent rise in 2002. The BLS also reports that costs for employers for health insurance per employee per hour worked has slowed down even more. From March 2001 to March 2002, it rose 11 perecnt; from March 2002 to March 2004, it rose 9 percent each year. But from March 2004 to December 2004, it rose only 3 percent. Something is...

Americans turning 65 this year can expect to live, on average, until they are 83, four and a half years longer than the typical 65-year-old could expect in 1940. And government actuaries predict that American life spans will just keep growing. This demographic trend - by 2040, the average 65-year-old will live to about 85 - has major financial implications for Social Security and major political implications for the lawmakers now trying to overhaul the system. Policy experts across the political spectrum, who agree on little else, have told Congress in recent weeks that any effort to improve Social Security's...

WASHINGTON - Key Senate Republicans privately reviewed suggestions Thursday for raising the Social Security retirement age while limiting future benefits for upper-wage earners, officials said, as they sought momentum for legislation atop President Bush's second-term domestic agenda. At the same time, the prospects for swift Senate action on the controversial measure appeared to dim during the day, the result of internal GOP disagreement as well as implacable Democratic opposition to Bush's call for personal accounts under Social Security. "I don't look for it until later on in the fall," said Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss. Lott made his comments after he...

WASHINGTON - President Bush remains committed to overhauling Social Security with private investment accounts funded with payroll taxes, a spokesman says, despite suggestions from an investment executive - an administration favorite - that the idea should be dropped. Bob Pozen, whose concept of "progressive indexing" for future benefits has been cited by the White House, said in a statement Thursday, "Given the lack of bipartisan support for carve-out personal accounts, the president should not insist on carve-out accounts if the Democrats support an overall legislative package for Social Security reform that is otherwise satisfactory to him." Pozen, a Democrat, said...

WASHINGTON – The investment executive President Bush lauds while selling his Social Security overhaul suggested Thursday the White House drop its insistence on private investment accounts funded with payroll taxes if that prevents Democrats from supporting the effort. Bob Pozen, whose concept of “progressive indexing” for future benefits has become an administration favorite, said lawmakers should instead focus on so-called add-on accounts, which are funded with other revenues. The Boston investment chief has suggested increasing investment in Roth IRAs by lifting the existing caps on them. “Given the lack of bipartisan support for carve-out personal accounts, the president should not...

I just watched a panel of economist, professors, researchers, and financial experts discuss what should be done to solve the financial woes of Social Security. All of them, to my surprise, agree that private accounts do not correct Social Security’s solvency problem. They’re wrong. Those arguing either for or against private accounts seemed to be divided in two categories. The advocates were quick to point out the greater potential gains that could be made in the market, the value of ownership, and the overall benefits to the economy. The detractors were quick to point out that the market isn’t a...

The rhetoric of class warfare is as old as dirt. Even Pharaoh kept the slaves fighting among themselves to extend their captivity. But there is nothing classy about stirring people’s jealousy and envy, making people feel as if the world owes them something, or bashing people who take risks to create jobs and help drive our economy. It is classless exploitation to appeal to a person’s weakness of understanding instead of their strength of character. Not surprisingly, Democratic Party leaders were quick to attack President Bush’s most recent proposal to help restructure Social Security by labeling it a “benefit cut...

NEW HAVEN, Conn., April 28 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Students for Saving Social Security (SSSS) is a non-partisan, grassroots campaign on college campuses across the nation advocating for Social Security reform through personal ownership. SSSS is leading the charge to inform and mobilize today's college students to advocate for personal accounts. Unlike Rock the Vote, SSSS represents the interest of the vast majority of college students who want the choice of personal accounts and no tax hikes. On Friday April 29th SSSS will be holding a nation-wide rally on 75 campuses across the nation. Students will be setting up information booths,...

Nancy Pelosi does not want you to go to this site. The teachers in Connecticut, like those in many other states, are special and don't have to contribute to Social Security, instead they get to participate in their own pension funds with individual retirement accounts. Take a look at this spead sheet comparing the benefits enjoyed by the teachers compared to what you can expect if you are not one of the lucky ones allowed to opt out of the pyramid scheme otherwise known as Social Security.

AFP Names Sen. John F. Kerry "Investor of the Week" Urges Lawmaker to Allow All Americans to Build Retirement Nest Eggs With Personal Accounts WASHINGTON -- As the U.S. Senate Finance Committee met today for a hearing about Social Security reform, the free-market grassroots group Americans for Prosperity named one of the committee's members, Sen. John F. Kerry, its inaugural "Investor of the Week" for his outstanding personal investment record and secure retirement future. The group also urged Sen. Kerry to back legislation creating personal accounts in Social Security, which would allow all Americans to build larger retirement nest eggs...

While AARP is busy bashing President Bush's plan for personal retirement accounts as unsafe, the organization is raking in millions of dollars from its own private stock and bond accounts.

THE WASHINGTON TIMES LANCASTER, Pa. -- While many lawmakers have tiptoed around the idea of creating private accounts for Social Security, Rep. Joe Pitts yesterday tried to convince a retirement community that the accounts are an excellent way to save the system for future generations. "You get a better rate of return on the investment; that's what's being proposed," the Pennsylvania Republican said to about 100 residents of the Willow Valley Retirement Communities. He told them that it's "immoral" to do nothing and watch the system fail their children and grandchildren.

There they were, some 120 Democrats, House and Senate members, at a rally Tuesday to protest President Bush's plan for retirement investment accounts they say will jeopardize the long-term health of Social Security. Emboldened by polls showing that Bush's 60-day campaign for these accounts -- to be created with a small amount of money diverted from Social Security payroll taxes -- may have actually eroded backing for his plan, the Democrats have a sense that they may have prevailed. The Democrats are and have been displaying an iron wall of unity when it comes to opposing retirement investment accounts. Social...

Key Senate Finance Committee Republicans vowed Tuesday to forge ahead without Democrats on President Bush's idea to include private investment accounts in Social Security. Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, outlined a process over the next two to three months that will force the high-powered Republicans on his panel to accept benefit cuts and tax increases necessary to make the giant retirement program permanently solvent, while including the private accounts that Bush and most of his party want but Democrats steadfastly oppose. Grassley admitted that even if he pushed a bill out of his committee on a party-line vote --...

Do you favor President Bush's plan for personal retirement accounts? Yes No freep this poll! scroll down to the bottom to get to it

Not content to let Pope Benedict XVI have the spotlight for more than a day, Wisconsin’s Congressman Paul Ryan introduced his plan to reform Social Security on Wednesday. The plan lets us divert some of the payroll taxes we’re all paying into tax-free personal accounts – our own personal property. We’ll have some options as to exactly how our money’s invested, but won’t be able to gamble it in high-risk ventures. More to the point, our personal accounts will mean more lucrative, comfortable retirements. Under Ryan’s plan, a worker who earns an average of $25,000 a year over his lifetime...

The government is playing accounting games with taxpayer money by spending withheld income while it should still be the property of the wage-earner. The concept of ownership society is the backbone of the Bush administration's actions on Social Security, lifetime savings accounts, and health care savings accounts. The motivation behind these issues is the desire to enhance personal choice; the final goal is to increase savings and to foster the opportunity for even the poorest members of society to create wealth. These preferentially tax-treated accounts are designed to fundamentally change the way the public saves money by creating incentives to...