Greenspan: Cut Social Security before it's too late - Dallas Dance Music - Dallas nightlife, music, tickets, and more

Dionysos · 08-27-04, 01:45 PM

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...i_ge/greenspan

By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP Economics Writer JACKSON, Wyo. - Federal Reserve (news - web sites) Chairman Alan Greenspan (news - web sites) said Friday that the country will face "abrupt and painful" choices if Congress does not move quickly to trim the Social Security (news - web sites) and Medicare benefits that have been promised to the baby boom generation.

Returning to a politically explosive issue that he has addressed a number of times this year, Greenspan said that it was wrong for the government to hold out the promise of more retirement benefits than it is capable of providing.

He said this issue was particularly critical given the impending retirement of 77 million baby boomers born in the two decades after World War II.

"As a nation, we owe it to our retirees to promise only the benefits that can be delivered," Greenspan said in opening remarks to a two-day conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City on the challenges posed by aging populations.

"If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels," Greenspan said. "If we delay, the adjustments could be abrupt and painful."

Greenspan, as he has done previously, suggested that possible changes would be raising the retirement age to receive full Social Security benefits, which currently is gradually increasing from 65 to 67.

Greenspan, who is 78 and was recently confirmed for a fifth term as Fed chairman, has been a proponent of raising the retirement age ever since he was chairman of a commission that recommended a number of changes to rescue Social Security from impending insolvency two decades ago.

In his remarks, Greenspan said that the projected doubling of the U.S. population over the age of 65 by 2035 would add to the government's budget deficit woes.

But he said it was important to be careful in how those deficits were addressed. He said that relying entirely on an increase in the payroll tax on workers to deal with the funding shortfall in Social Security and Medicare would make it more costly for employers to hire workers.

Greenspan said policymakers must consider all the economic impacts that changes in the government's two biggest benefit programs would entail such as the effect on retirement decisions, the size of the labor force and the saving behavior of Americans.

Greenspan acknowledged that any decisions to trim benefits or boost payroll taxes could be difficult politically, but he said those decisions must be made and made quickly to give baby boomers time to adjust.

"Though the challenges of prospective increasingly stark choices for the United States seem great, the necessary adjustments will likely be smaller than those required in most other developing countries," he said, noting that Europe and Japan will have a much higher proportion of retirees to current workers in coming years.

Greenspan has repeatedly this year addressed the looming crisis in Social Security and Medicare, a development that the presidential candidates have chosen to virtually ignore given the painful choices that will likely be presented to the next president.

Ryan · 08-27-04, 02:17 PM

Greenspan: "Cut Social Security before it's too late"

Bush, Kerry, and every other politician: "No."

/logical discussion of fiscal prudence over

08-27-04, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ryan

Greenspan: "Cut Social Security before it's too late"

Bush, Kerry, and every other politician: "No."

/logical discussion of fiscal prudence over

pretty much

Hey Bubu · 08-27-04, 03:13 PM

Everyone move to Europe, there will be more available jobs soon.

Ryan · 08-27-04, 03:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TypeH

Everyone move to Europe, there will be more available jobs soon.

If I had a nickel for everyone I've known who was going to "move to Europe"...

08-27-04, 03:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TypeH

Everyone move to Europe, there will be more available jobs soon.

Bon chance mon ami(e)

we need a smilie with a beret

moshen · 08-27-04, 04:14 PM

fuck that... we need more of a sliding tax scale. (more like pre-reagan)
tax the rich... reinstate estate taxes... and start taxing stock and investment transactions.

08-27-04, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moshen

fuck that... we need more of a sliding tax scale. (more like pre-reagan)
tax the rich... reinstate estate taxes... and start taxing stock and investment transactions.

You're kidding right?

Hey Bubu · 08-27-04, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xiannaix

Bon chance mon ami(e)

we need a smilie with a beret

Bien Sur....

moshen · 08-27-04, 04:19 PM

no, the fiscal state of our country and the current budget are results of ignorance and greed in high places.

now the republicans propose a flat tax... yeah right.. that just further hurts the lower/middle classes while increasing the gap between income brackets.

moshen · 08-27-04, 04:21 PM

also, without social security guess what all those old people have to do? they have to work. more old people working = fewer jobs to go around = just a worse economic situation.

transparentaura · 08-27-04, 04:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moshen

fuck that... we need more of a sliding tax scale. (more like pre-reagan)
tax the rich... reinstate estate taxes... and start taxing stock and investment transactions.

I agree.
Why are earned wages taxed, but investment income is supposed to be exempt.

Ryan · 08-27-04, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transparentaura

I agree.
Why are earned wages taxed, but investment income is supposed to be exempt.

Investment income is taxed when the investor earns it as income. Wow, that was repetitive. But seriously, I am already taxed when I get a paycheck and I save a lot of money. Why should I be penalized for saving and investing money instead of blowing it on garbage or hiding it in the back yard?

Ryan · 08-27-04, 04:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moshen

no, the fiscal state of our country and the current budget are results of ignorance and greed in high places.

now the republicans propose a flat tax... yeah right.. that just further hurts the lower/middle classes while increasing the gap between income brackets.

While I agree that greed runs wild in high places, ignorance does not. The ignorance resides in the lower- and middle-classes, where people generally spend too much, do not save, and invest their money foolishly. Corporate greed and crime is a separate issue from class division, or at least, it ought to be treated as such. Even if we enforced the letter of the law on every corporation in America and there was no corruption, there would still be rich people and poor people.

moshen · 08-27-04, 04:47 PM

i have no problem with rich people and there will always be a wage gap.

just how recent trends in taxation and wage increases show preference to the wealthy while hurting the poor/lower classes.

and the problem i have with investment transactions is basically old money making money. the system basically allows weathly families to pass down thier money and actually have it still acumulate wealth.
with the abolition of the estate tax this has become worse.

and no i dont think that the small investor or the small estates should be taxed. i think it should be a sliding scale like everything else.

current laws are allowing the countries wealth to stay in the hands of the few... when it should be put to better use through taxation.

08-27-04, 03:13 PM	#4 (permalink)
Hey Bubu Funky Spunk Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: take a left at the cow Posts: 17,124	Everyone move to Europe, there will be more available jobs soon. __________________ "We're so engaged in doing things to achieve purposes of outer value that we forget that the inner value, the rapture that is associated with being alive, is what it's all about." --Joseph Campbell,

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08-27-04, 02:17 PM	#2 (permalink)
Ryan Join Date: Aug 2002 Location: Austin, TX Posts: 3,783	Greenspan: "Cut Social Security before it's too late" Bush, Kerry, and every other politician: "No." /logical discussion of fiscal prudence over

08-27-04, 04:14 PM	#7 (permalink)
moshen Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: 30 paces northwest Posts: 839	fuck that... we need more of a sliding tax scale. (more like pre-reagan) tax the rich... reinstate estate taxes... and start taxing stock and investment transactions.

08-27-04, 04:19 PM	#10 (permalink)
moshen Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: 30 paces northwest Posts: 839	no, the fiscal state of our country and the current budget are results of ignorance and greed in high places. now the republicans propose a flat tax... yeah right.. that just further hurts the lower/middle classes while increasing the gap between income brackets.

08-27-04, 04:21 PM	#11 (permalink)
moshen Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: 30 paces northwest Posts: 839	also, without social security guess what all those old people have to do? they have to work. more old people working = fewer jobs to go around = just a worse economic situation.

08-27-04, 04:47 PM	#15 (permalink)
moshen Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: 30 paces northwest Posts: 839	i have no problem with rich people and there will always be a wage gap. just how recent trends in taxation and wage increases show preference to the wealthy while hurting the poor/lower classes. and the problem i have with investment transactions is basically old money making money. the system basically allows weathly families to pass down thier money and actually have it still acumulate wealth. with the abolition of the estate tax this has become worse. and no i dont think that the small investor or the small estates should be taxed. i think it should be a sliding scale like everything else. current laws are allowing the countries wealth to stay in the hands of the few... when it should be put to better use through taxation.