John Kerry's position on

Social Security: Social Security is the foundation for all Americans retirement income. This is because no one outlives their Social Security retirement benefit and your benefit will never lose its value. Yet, it has been projected that the Social Security trust fund will turn negative by the year 2012, and will be depleted by 2030, at which point the government will need to adopt alternative funding methods to meet its obligations.

Description of candidate's position: John Kerry's broad approach to strengthening Social Security consists of a three pillar plan: Growing the economy, restoring fiscal discipline, and by addressing Social Security in a bipartisan process. Kerry believes that a larger economy will be in a better position to pay for an increasing number of retirees. The Kerry plan will cut the deficit in half and restore fiscal discipline to Washington. Kerry plans on building on his strong record of working with Democrats and Republicans on fiscal issues to address Social Security's challenge. Kerry is against privatization and is against raising the retirement age. He is still developing his plan on the issue, yet has raised the idea of capping payments to wealthy retired Americans.

Quotation from the candidate: "Today, older Americans are living longer than ever. Demographic changes mean that in future years there will be more retirees but relatively fewer workers to pay for their benefits. This will bring new challenges to Social Security but with sound policies and fiscal discipline, we can strengthen Social Security for the future. I am committed to protecting Social Security, and I will fight any attempts to privatize the program or raise the retirement age. "Older Americans have devoted their lives to building our country and preserving out freedom. We must honor their service and keep our promise to older Americans." August 14, 2004, Kerry's statement on the Social Security Anniversary.

Assessment of the proposal:

Positive: The Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is the nation's leading nonpartisan progressive public policy organization. They agree with Kerry with his views on privatization. They believe that privatization would reduce the cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) which would shrink the benefits retirees receive. They also believe that privatization would benefit men more than woman due to the gap in average salaries.

David Francis, Senior Economics Correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor, believes that women, especially lower income women would be most harmed by social security privatization. He believes that since women on average earn less than men and live seven years longer, they would lose most from privatization.

Negative: Social Security Choice.org is a non-partisan, grassroots, issue advocacy group. Their mission is dedicated to the cause of modernizing and reforming the Social Security system by giving workers the option to voluntarily place a portion or all of their Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts. This group is represented by thousands of Americans who want to have more control over their retirement futures.

Economist Doug Bandow believes that the only way to fix Social Security is to follow the Chilean model of switching to a private retirement system, where workers invest their own money for their own retirement, rather than turn it over to the government to pay current retirees. Such a system, he believes would not be difficult to implement in America.

Comparison: While both candidates agree that Social Security is in danger, they have different views on alternative funding methods. George Bush is in favor of modernization of the current Social Security system. He believes personal retirement accounts are the best alternative, and he has not ruled out raising the retirement age. John Kerry has a three pillar plan, however it does not go into much detail on his ideas. He has said that he is against privatization and is against raising the retirement age.

Link to Bush's issue brief