Re: Response to Moderator's Recent Question

[National Dialogue Moderator <moderator>]

You ask great questions!  Which defy simple answers.

Question #1.  I agree that Anna Rappoport's list of questions of ask of any 
reform plan is a good set.  Perhaps her questions about the most vulnerable 
could be fleshed out a bit, to include low earners, those with intermittent 
work history, single women (who lack access to the benefits of a 
higher-earning male).  I think she has included something about provisions 
for divorced spouses; now that the average length of marriage is less than 
ten years perhaps some change is needed in our current way of coping with 
this.  One question I've not seen yet is about homemakers who become 
disabled.  There is nothing in our system for them or their families, unless 
they have sufficient wage earning history.  Anna's list indirectly addresses 
this by including a question on credit for caregiving years.

Question #2.  Thank you for articulating this point about life-long 
inequities carrying through to retirement and death.  This is exactly what 
has been troubling me.  I would like to see women have the same poverty rate 
as men in retirement, and hopefully a low rate, not nearly twice as high 
(this desire is similar to that of the participant who pointed out that a 
disabled woman is likely to receive less than a man with the same disability, 
simply because of their past earnings histories and the effects of employment 
discrimination against women--she'd prefer equitable incomes when disabled).  

Except for helping low earners proportionately more and having a minimum 
(quite low) and SSI benefits available (only if retiree meets the means test, 
the income eligibility rules), our system has no minimum tier of benefits.  

Many other countries have a social insurance system which provides a minimum 
benefit to everyone (and that minimum is quite a bit more generous than 
ours); one's life time earnings record can add to the minimum benefit, but 
the minimum is not based on one's work record.  This might very well be 
fairer than the system we have now.  It does seem that at some point in life, 
just "being" should be enough to achieve a decent standard of living.  In 
many countries, children as well as the retired are treated this way; they do 
much more to bring their children and their elders out of poverty than we do.

But the short answer to your question is, "Yes, I'd like to see more equity 
in retirement."


Heidi Hartmann