According to the Wall Street Journal, congressional Republicans are considering an increase in the normal retirement age in order to help finance Social Security reform. In the past, this idea has been very controversial and Democrats are, no doubt, salivating at the opportunity to slam Republicans for even thinking about raising the retirement age. But it's a good idea that shouldn't fall victim to partisan politics.
Those who decide what is conventional wisdom inside-the-Beltway are pushing the idea President Bush is losing support for his plan to reform Social Security with personal retirement accounts and it is time for him to cut his losses.
In the United States, we have made promises to senior citizens that far exceed what we can pay for at current tax rates. As a result, future retirees will have to rely more on private savings than previous generations. For this reason, we need programs that encourage private sector saving.
Only in the past 20 years have scientists begun to understand that the Earth has a moderate, persistent 1,500-year climate cycle that creates warmer and cooler periods of time. Sunspot records and the isotopes of carbon, oxygen and beryllium trapped in ice cores and cave stalagmites indicate that this process is driven by a small cycle in the sun's radiance.
For over 30 years, Lester Brown, a MacArthur Foundation "genius award" winner and president of the Earth Policy Institute, has warned that human activities threaten agricultural productivity and human well-being. Brown and other environmental lobbyists argue that continuing human-caused global warming poses a significant threat of world famine. They say hotter temperatures will cause crops to wither on the vine and increase the evaporation rate of moisture from the soil.
Steve Shirley wasn't instantly sold on the idea of a family health insurance policy that carried a $3,000 deductible. But when the vice president of marketing for Guaranty Bank regarded the health plan as something else _ another way to build a nest egg _ he changed his mind.
Patients are increasingly by-passing doctors and managing their own health care, according to a study released today by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA).
The Kyoto protocol for the control of greenhouse gases arrived stillborn in mid-February, and the event was a cause for celebration for anyone who cares about America's economy and its workers.
Medicaid is the largest single expenditure state governments face today. The country as a whole spends more on Medicaid than it spends on primary and secondary education. We also spend more on Medicaid (for the poor) than we spend on Medicare (for the elderly). And at the rate the program is growing, it is on a course to consume the entire budgets of state governments in just a few decades.
Lately I have irked some fellow conservatives by attacking the idea that a national retail sales tax can replace our current federal tax system, while at the same time endorsing a value-added tax as a new tax on top of our current system. To many of my friends, it looks as if I have switched sides. For their benefit, I would like to explain myself and assure them that I am still a conservative in good standing.
The latest trend in health care? Patients are managing their own care. New technologies make it possible. Legislative changes facilitate it. And financial pressures all but require it.
Over the past 20 years more than 30 countries, spread across Latin America, Eastern and Western Europe, Australia and Hong Kong, have adopted social security systems that include funded privately managed plans, usually based on personal accounts. Contributions to the accounts range from 2.5% to 12.5% of wages and they are projected to supply between 30% and 80% of total benefits.
I am 63 years old. I could easily argue for maintaining the status quo in Social Security, protecting benefits for me and my contemporaries without regard to our country's future retirees. But I won't, and that's why I'm leading the National Center for Policy Analysis' education effort in Arizona. Over 70 million people not long ago were changing diapers, soon they will be wearing them. Over 70 million people will be going from pushing strollers to pushing walkers.
College students say they are worried about Social Security and fear they'll never see a return on their investment unless the system is overhauled.