AARP has long supported the "three-legged stool" for retirement income security policy. This means that, in addition to strengthening Social Security, we also advocate for greater pension coverage and more opportunities for Americans to save and invest for retirement. In this light, proposals that would use part of the surplus to help those without pensions or savings today are a central part of the broader retirement security effort.
AARP has commended President Clinton for his Universal Savings Account proposal. It is well targeted, it builds on the current 401(k) system rather than replacing it, and it would result in net additions to both personal and national savings, strengthening the economy. Senator Roth and Representative Kasich earlier introduced similar proposals.
Because this approach has bipartisan authorship, and because it builds on the widely-perceived need to encourage Americans to save more, I believe these proposals could be part of a broader compromise on Social Security. They could also simply be done on their own as part of a tax cut package.
However, we believe they should be looked at as separate and on top of Social Security, because Social Security is designed to serve different goals than individual investment. AARP believes we need to strengthen Social Security's finances and enact some wider form of individual retirement savings, or that famous three-legged stool may fail entirely for too many Americans.
