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Tuesday, March 01, 2005
SS Benefits Keep Millions of Seniors Economically Stable
In an op-ed column in today's New York Times, Paul Krugman argues that the GOP leadership's drive to create private Social Security accounts isn't about "finding a way to strengthen Social Security; it's about finding a way to phase out a system that conservatives have always regarded as illegitimate."
Lawmakers will need to find a way to ensure that benefits aren't cut for Social Security recipients in the future, whether or not that includes some form of private accounts. They will need to do so, however, in a way that doesn't place those benefits at risk.
Social Security benefits are currently responsible for keeping 13 million elderly people from living below the poverty line. If those benefits did not exist, almost 50 percent of elderly people would live below the poverty line. If the level of those benefits were to be put at risk through the creation private accounts, some seniors would fare well; however a number of them would end up losing out on thousands of dollars per year, and many household incomes would fall below the poverty line. Click here to see a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities that outlines the effect of Social Security on poverty among senior citizens. The report provides data on a state-by-state basis.
Posted by Becky Lewis
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