文档介绍：JUNE AXINN an(J MARK J. STERN
Social Security Policy Reconsidered
The Social Security surplus should be used to meet the real needs
of real people. We might, for instance, invest in the plant and equipment
needed for the care of an aging population.
The financing of our social insurance system has be- In 1990, the funds are running large surpluses. Yet
come front page news once again. Since 1983, the trust many observers are already concerned that in a few
funds have grown rapidly; indeed, unless there is a decades we will once more be faced with obligations
change in policy, the funds are expected to accumulate that can not be met by the social insurance system
$12 trillion (more than three times the current Gross without the assistance of the . Treasury. This article
National Product) by 2025. examines the alternatives for the financing of Social
Recently, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan CD- Security in light of its obligations to beneficiaries, the
NY) proposed that we cut the payroll tax to reduce the demands that will be put on it in the next half century,
surplus and retum the trust funds to the pay-as-you-go and its impact on the American economy.
financing that was the policy before 1983. Public debate
of this proposal, including heated denunciation of it by Gaining perspective
the Bush Administration, has called attention to the
inc