Briefing Book
White House Conference


Third Millennium

121 Avenue of the Americas, Suite 505
New York, NY 10013-1510
Ph: 212.226.2077
E-mail: thirdmil@juno.com

WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE
1401 17 Street, Suite 213, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Ph: 202.939.0077
Website: http://www.thirdmil.org

Questions for President Clinton
From Richard Thau and Heather Lamm
Executive Director and Chairperson, respectively, of Third Millennium
December 8, 1998

Rather than making a statement, we have several questions for President Clinton:

  1. Today's workers pay the highest FICA taxes in American history, as much as $8,482 per year. At the same time, the Social Security trustees project that the program will be able to pay only 75% of promised benefits by the time our generation retires in the 2030's. Do you believe this represents an inherent unfairness built into the Social Security system, and if so, how do you plan to remedy it?

  2. Some people suggest raising the FICA tax by 2.2 percentage points as a way to save Social Security. For a self-employed worker earning $30,000, such an increase would mean an additional $660 in payroll taxes over and above his/her current $3,720 annual contribution. Do you support or oppose any tax increase in FICA (including an increase in the cap on taxable wages)?

  3. A male turning 65 this year has a 50-50 chance of living to 80 years of age. The female turning 65 this year has a 50-50 chance of living to 84. Many people in our generation (born in the 1960s and 70s) could reasonably expect to live into their 90s. With increasing lifespans, do you believe:

    1. that people should work longer, and the eligibility age for Social Security should be raised to 70 for people under 50, or even indexed to average lifespan?

    2. that people who can expect to spend l/3 of their lives as senior citizens should be required to pre-fund some of their retirement needs? And if so, do you think the most effective way to create a nation of savers is to convert a small portion of Social Security into a defined contribution plan?

  4. If you agree with your 1994-96 Social Security Advisory Council that a portion of Social Security contributions should be invested in the capital markets, do you believe that the Federal government should do the stock picking collectively for everyone, or that individuals should have a personal account and a choice of where to invest their funds?

  5. If Social Security did not exist, and you had to create it from scratch as President Roosevelt and Congress did in 1935, would such a program include a personal account component?

  6. Which constituency is more important in this discussion: those who pay the FICA taxes or those who receive the Social Security benefits?

  7. Do you believe that rate of return, measured across generations, is a fair way to gauge the fairness of Social Security? If so, are you concerned that today's young adults and future generations are expected to get a lower rate of return than older generations?

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