The Waterkooler

AARP - Where We Stand

AARP supports:

* Offering individual retirement accounts in addition to Social Security
* Raising the cap on wages subject to Social Security tax so that 90 percent of wages nationwide would be covered
* Making the Social Security system universal, with everyone sharing its obligations and benefits
* Investing a portion of the trust fund in a total market index fund to increase the return. By law, the trust fund now may be invested only in government bonds.

Congressman Paul Ryan's Plan

Ryan, one of the youngest members of the House at age 35, proposes letting younger workers invest a portion of their payroll taxes in voluntary, tax-free personal accounts. Full benefits as they exist now would remain for workers older than 55 or any younger worker choosing not to establish an account.

Under Ryan’s plan, as a worker ages, the account’s investments would shift from higher-yielding equity holdings to lower-risk bond assets. Over the course of the worker’s career, the investments would earn a far higher rate of return than Social Security currently does, according to Ryan.

NY Times Plan: More Illegals

Illegal Immigrants Are Bolstering Social Security With Billions?

The thing to notice here is that the article does not mention a single COST of illegal immigration. Leave it to the NYTimes to present only one side of an issue.

GOP Leaders Running from Private Accounts?

Some GOP'ers think it may be best to compromise on private accounts now, fight for them again later...

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, for example, has had meetings with members of both parties in recent months in hopes of jump-starting compromise talks.

Talk of Raising Retirement Age

Republican Senators Charles Grassley of Iowa and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, along with Democrats Byron Dorgan of North Dakota and Charles Schumer of New York, have said raising the retirement age should be considered.