Word: retirees
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
How to 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...
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? --By Andrew Goldstein...
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% a year (or even if it gains a more modest 4% 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 dismal national savings rate...
...GAMBLE If stocks do not continue to rise (a very real possibility, considering how high current stock prices are relative to company earnings), workers would be stuck with lower benefits. If large numbers of retirees lost money in the market, there would be pressure on the government to bail them out, forcing a future Administration to choose between precipitating a fiscal crisis and ignoring the struggling elderly. Even if the market stays strong, some people are bound to retire and cash out their holdings in a bear market (historically, nearly 1 out of every 4 years has shown negative stock...
Last weekend the oarsman who in Atlanta had announced his intention to retire by gasping, "Anyone sees me near a boat again, they can shoot me," converted his fury into a fifth title. "We knew we were going to win," he said after the British boat edged the Italians by...