Social Security - reform (BenefitsLink.com)Headlines re Social Security - reform, gathered by BenefitsLink.comPolicy Brief: Considerations for Potential Proposals to Change the Earliest Eligibility Age for Retirement (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 4 pages. Excerpt: "The earliest eligibility age (EEA) interacts with many other Social Security program rules, including the benefit formula and insured status requirements. Proposals to increase the EEA could affect some or all of these other rules depending on how policymakers design the proposal. By using a hypothetical proposal that increases the EEA, this policy brief illustrates how these interations work and discusses the options that policymakers would need to consider." (U.S..http://www.socialsecurity.gov/policy/docs/policybriefs/pb2007-01.pdf Partially Prefunding the Canadian Public Pension Plans: Lessons for the United States- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "During the 1990s, both Canada and the United States were facing many of the same challenges to their Social Security programs. But while the United States has continued on the same course, with no changes made -- despite continued projections of severe shortfalls ahead -- Canada began partially prefunding its public pension plans with real assets in 1998. Would a similar approach be possible or appropriate for the financially challenged Social Security program in the United...http://www.watsonwyatt.com/us/pubs/insider/showarticle.asp?ArticleID=18634 The Social Security International Update, January 2008- (Found June 24, 2008 ) This monthly publication covers recent developments in foreign private and public pensions, social security, and retirement. (U.S. Social Security Administration)http://www.socialsecurity.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/intl_update/2008-01/index.html GAO Testimony on Long-Term Fiscal Outlook - Action Is Needed to Avoid the Possibility the Possibility of a Serious Economic Disruption in the Future (- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 21 pages. Excerpt: "During the past 3 years, the Comptroller General has traveled to 25 states as part of the Fiscal Wake-Up Tour. Members of this diverse group of policy experts agree that finding solutions to the nation's long-term fiscal challenge will require bipartisan cooperation, a willingness to discuss all options, and the courage to make tough choices." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08411t.pdf State and Local Governments - Growing Fiscal Challenges Will Emerge (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 78 pages. Excerpt: "As happens at the federal level, these subnational governments may also face serious fiscal stress in the future. To provide Congress and the public with a broader perspective on our nation's fiscal outlook, GAO has developed a fiscal model of the state and local sector. This unique model enables GAO to simulate fiscal outcomes for the entire state and local government sector for several decades into the future." (U.S. Government Accountability Office)http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d08317.pdf Social Security Reform: Benchmarks for Assessing Fairness and Benefit Adequacy (PDF)- (Found June 24, 2008 ) 19 pages. Excerpt: "This brief focuses on ways to assess the fairness of reforms and the adequacy of benefits in a financially sustainable Social Security system. The appropriate level of benefits, degree of progressivity, and distribution across generations of the financial burden associated with achieving a solvent system inherently involve value judgments that must be made in deciding how to reform Social Security. This issue brief provides a practical illustration of how to assess the..http://www.treas.gov/press/releases/reports/ss_issuebrief_no.3.pdf Senate Subcommittee Gets Earful on Problems with Government Pension Offset and the Windfall Elimination Provision- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "On November 6, 2007, the Senate Finance Committee's Subcommittee on Social Security, Pensions, and Family Policy held a hearing on 'GPO and WEP: Policies Affecting Pensions from Work Not Covered by Social Security.' The Subcommittee's chairman, Senator John Kerry (D-MA), had come under intense pressure to hold such a hearing after saying earlier in the year that he thought the best way to address the problems with GPO and WEP would be in the context of overall reform of the...http://www.nctr.org/federal/07NovfederaleNews.html#2 Podcast: Social Security Reform Abroad -- What Lessons for the U.S.- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "What are other nations doing to keep their Social Security systems solvent and make sure benefits are adequate Partial privatization, individual accounts, benefit cuts, tax increases, automatic trigger mechanisms: are these working What can the U.S. learn from these efforts Is the climate right for reform in Washington" (Urban Institute)http://www.urban.org/Pressroom/otherevents/socialsecurityreform.cfm Opinion: Candidate Thompson and Social Security- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "Like so many before him, Mr. Thompson has fallen into the trap that the objective is to preserve and save Social Security rather than to provide retirement income cost effectively." (The Washington Times)http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071205/COMMENTARY/112050024 The 'Third Rail': Presidential Candidates Take on Social Security- (Found June 24, 2008 ) Excerpt: "Below are the Social Security proposals and suggestions made so far by the front-runners. Those front-runners were determined by the results of CNN's most recent national polls in which a candidate got at least 10 percent of the vote. Among the Democrats, they are Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards. From the Republican field, there is Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee." (CNN.com)http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/28/pf/taxes/campaign08_SocSec_proposals/index.htm |