Word: funded
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Maybe it's Gore's turn for good news. Of late, it seemed, whenever Clinton tripped, it was Gore who stubbed his toe. To make his bones in the Administration, for example, good-soldier Gore worked too hard at fund raising and ended up taking money from Buddhist monks and babbling about controlling legal authority. But tomcattery is one perceived Clintonian trait that hasn't rubbed off on Gore. "Clinton and Gore are friends, but not that kind of friends," says a senior Gore aide. "They're close colleagues who sometimes see each other away from work, but then usually...
...money that Social Security takes in through FICA taxes exceeds what it pays out in benefits. This year alone, Social Security's surplus will be about $100 billion. That money is held in a trust fund; the value of that fund now exceeds $500 billion. However, because the government spends more on other programs that it takes in, it "borrows" from the Social Security trust fund. For example, this year the government will spend about $50 billion more than it has, but it will borrow Social Security's $100 billion surplus...
...according to moderate estimates, FICA taxes will not cover expected outlays, and Social Security will have to dip into its trust fund (meaning that the rest of the government will have to pay Social Security back). By about 2029, that fund will be depleted and Social Security will only have the money to pay out 75 percent of expected benefits. This is the core of the Social Security problem...
...Fans of the current system wish to solve this imbalance by "tinkering." For example, some combination of benefit cuts, modest tax increases, a change in the investment portfolio of the trust fund and an increase in the retirement age could shore the system up for the next 75 years. Proponents ask why we should radically reform a program that has been so effective for so long. Opponents say that "tinkering" will not be a permanent fix and that there may be a cheaper way to get greater benefits...
Will privatization protect disabled workers, provide a minimum level of protection for low income workers, ensure benefits for non-working spouses or provide protection from market fluctuations? And what kind of taxes will be necessary to fund the transition? These are the kinds of questions we must ask our-selves before we can make an informed and sensible choice...