首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Reforming the Social Security retirement program is an issue of enormous practical importance. Yet it remains the missing piece
Reforming the Social Security retirement program is an issue of enormous practical importance. Yet it remains the missing piece
admin
2011-02-26
37
问题
Reforming the Social Security retirement program is an issue of enormous practical importance. Yet it remains the missing piece in American policy analysis. At a time when the Congress and the Administration are considering ways to reform welfare, Medicare, Medicaid, and the income tax, elected officials are still unwilling to confront the serious problems of our Social Security system. Eventually, however, its deteriorating financial condition will force major reforms. Whether those reforms are good or bad, whether they deal with the basic economic problems of the system or merely protect the solvency of existing institutional arrangements will depend in part on whether we, as economists, provide the appropriate intellectual framework for analyzing reform alternatives.
Major policy changes that affect the public at large can only happen in our democracy when there is widespread public support for the new direction of policy. In the field of economics, the views of the media, of other private-sector opinion leaders, and of politicians and their advisers, depend very much on their perception of what economists believe feasible and correct. Fundamental policy reforms in a complex area like social security also require the development of technical expertise, both in and out of government, about the options for change and their likely consequences. Fortunately, an expanding group of economists is now thinking and writing about social security reform. My remarks today greatly benefit from what they have written and from my conversations with many of them.
I began to do my research on the effects of Social Security reform nearly 25 year ago [Feldstein, 1974, 1975]. A central concept in my analysis of Social Security has been the notion of "Social Security wealth," which I defined as the present actuarial value of the Social Security benefits to which the current adult population will be entitled at age 65 [or are already entitled to if they are older than 65] minus the present actuarial value of the Social Security taxes that they will pay before reaching that age. Social Security wealth has now grown to about $11 trillion or more than 1.5 times GDP. Since this is equivalent to more than $50000 for every adult in the country, the value of Social Security wealth substantially exceeds all other assets for the vast majority of American households. In the aggregate, Social Security wealth exceeds three-fourths of all private financial wealth, as conventionally measured.
Social Security wealth is of course not real wealth but only a claim on current and future taxpayers. Instead of labeling this key magnitude "Social Security wealth," I could have called it the nation’s "Social Security liability." Like ordinary government debt, Social Security wealth has the power to crowd out private capital accumulation; and Social Security wealth will continue to grow as long as our current system remains unchanged, displacing an ever larger stock of capital.
The $11 trillion Social Security liability is three times as large as the official national debt. Although I certainly welcome the current political efforts to shrink future budget deficits, it is worth noting that, even if the traditional deficit is eliminated in the year 2002, so that the national debt is then no longer increasing, the national debt in the form of the Social Security liability is likely to increase that year by about $ 300 billion.
Looking further into the future, the aggregate Social Security liability will grow as the population expands, as it become relatively older, and as income rises. Government actuaries predict that, under existing law, the tax rate required to pay each year’s Social Security benefit will rise over the next 50 years from the present level of slightly less than 12 percent to more than 18 percent, and perhaps to as much as 23 percent.
In paragraph three, the name and the dates between parentheses ______.
选项
A、are a question of personal style.
B、represent vital new information.
C、identify the author.
D、refer to a different author.
E、are none of the abov
答案
C
解析
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/6NBO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
RetirementforMarionMarionWhiteisduetoretirenextweekfromwell-knownlocallawfirmBarney&Francis,(29)...
ToletNewofficesinformerfactorybuildinginpopularsuburbofcity.24-hourentrywithsecurity.
Questions29-40•Readtheintroductionbelowaboutacompanytrainingprogramme.•Choosethecorrectwordtofilleachg
随机试题
优秀的散文总是在描绘客观事物之中融注作者的(),从而构成情景交融的艺术境界。
依据《增值税暂行条例》,小规模纳税人的应纳税额按其销售货物或应税劳务的销售额的下列哪项征收率来计算?
WHO推荐的婴幼儿皮肤采血部位
2002年4月2日,某银行与某公司签订贷款合同,约定银行贷款给公司,公司以土地使用权为抵押。2002年6月1日,公司办理土地使用权抵押登记手续,并取得土地管理局签发的抵押证书。后因公司未依约还款,某银行提起诉讼。2003年2月4日,法院作出民事判决,认定土
下列()是袋式除尘器的特点性能。
下列项目中不应当征收营业税的是()。
在企业财务绩效定量评价中,债务负担水平、资产负债结构、或有负债情况、现金偿债能力等方面的财务指标主要是对企业进行()。
都说眼下属于图像时代。且不说电视、电影、光盘等______着文化消费和阅读走向,单单老照片、老漫画、老插图等等历史陈迹的______,便足以表明人们已不再满足于在文字里感受生活,感受历史了。填入横线部分最恰当的一项是( )。
X:当一种很少发生但却很严重的工业事故发生时,人们的反应是认为这种事故越来越频繁了。这种想法是没有道理的。毕竟,在某一把扑克中摸到4张A这一稀有的事并不增加将来某把牌摸到4张A的机会。Y:正相反,该看法是合理的,因为它使人们感觉到他们以前没感受到的危险,并
TheUnitedStatesiswidelyrecognizedtohaveaprivateeconomybecauseprivatelyownedbusinessplay【C1】______roles.TheAmeri
最新回复
(
0
)