12/12/2012 – 5 principles for fixing Social Security (The Wall Street Journal)

Someone asked whether I wanted to put together a specific list of changes to the Social Security program with attendant cost estimates.  After some thought, I declined.   While I care very much about the future of the program, solving Social Security’s financing challenge is conceptually easy – the problem is relatively small and dozens of proposals have been vetted and “scored” by the Social Security actuaries.   Some recent packages of revenue increases and benefit cuts were included in the so-called Simpson-Bowles proposals and in the report of the Debt Reduction Task Force chaired by former Republican Senator Pete Domenici and budget expert Alice Rivlin.  Listing my personal favorites would add little to the debate. The question, however, did force me to list a number of principles that I would like Congress to keep in mind when they come to tackling Social Security solvency.

Read the full article by Alicia Munnell at The Wall Street Journal.