Word: bushed
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...tell the difference between Al ("We're for the people") Gore and George W. ("I trust the people") Bush? Take a look at what each candidate says at this week's debate about how to "save" Social Security. You have probably heard that the popular program will go bankrupt soon, but that's not exactly true. The real problem is that as the baby boomers retire and then live longer than previous cohorts, aid to the elderly will take up more of the budget, leaving little room for other priorities like health care or education. The solution we choose will...
...Gore promises that when you retire, the government will take care of you: Social Security, he says, must continue to be "a compact between generations" in which today's workers pay for better lives for today's retirees. Bush says you can and should take care of yourself. He wants to transform the system into a long-term personal investment plan: You put in money now and take it out when you retire. What do you think...
...Bush Plan...
...Letting people invest their own money, says Bush, will produce better long-term returns than keeping all Social Security revenues in the hands of the government. So he uses about half the Social Security surplus - roughly $1 trillion - to give young workers the right to divert some of their payroll taxes to private savings accounts. Workers could then invest this money in stocks and bonds...
...Assuming Bush substantially cuts the guaranteed benefits paid by the government each year to retirees (he has so far avoided actually saying he would do this), he can reduce the long-term cost of the program. And if the stock market continues its historical rate of return of 7 percent a year (or even if it gains a more modest 4 percent a year), such cuts would be painless because most beneficiaries would retire with more money than they would otherwise receive under the current system. Giving workers private accounts should also help boost the currently dismal national savings rate...