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Investing Social Security Funds in the Stock Market: Some Economic Considerations

Description: For the time being, Social Security receipts are more than enough to fund current benefits. But beginning in 2017, under current law, benefits are projected to exceed Social Security receipts. At that point, if not before, either benefit will have to be cut, taxes will have to be raised, or the shortfall will have to be made up either by tapping non-Social Security revenues, which would reduce the unified federal budget surplus or by an increase in federal borrowing.
Date: April 12, 2005
Creator: Cashell, Brian W.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Child Welfare: Social Security and Supplemental Security Income (SSI) Benefits for Children in Foster Care

Description: This report begins with a discussion of the foster care system and the Social Security benefits available to eligible children, including those in foster care. It then describes the role of representative payees and their responsibilities. The report provides data on the use of Social Security benefits to reimburse states for child welfare, and includes a discussion of the Keffeler decision. Finally, the report concludes with proposals supported by some advocates to change the current practice … more
Date: April 27, 2011
Creator: Fernandes-Alcantara, Adrienne L.; Szymendera, Scott & Stoltzfus, Emilie
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Reform: President Bush's Individual Account Proposal

Description: The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) program, commonly referred to as Social Security, is facing a long-term fiscal deficit. In response to this challenge, President Bush has made Social Security reform the key focus of his domestic social policy agenda during his second term. On February 2, the President issued a document, “Strengthening Social Security for the 21st Century,” which lays out the specifications for a system of voluntary individual accounts to be phased-in as … more
Date: April 25, 2005
Creator: Haltzel, Laura
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Reform: Bills in the 106th Congress

Description: The Social Security system is projected to have long-range funding problems. Although the system’s income currently exceeds its expenditures, its trust funds are projected to be depleted in 2037. Concern about the problem and a belief that the remedy lies partly in economic growth that could be bolstered by changes to the system have led to introduction of a number of bills incorporating varying degrees of reform. This report describes the funding problem in some detail, summarizes many of the … more
Date: April 11, 2000
Creator: Koitz, David S.
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Ideas for Privatizing Social Security

Description: There has been considerable interest recently in privatizing Social Security. The ideas are wide-ranging: from adoption of a totally-revamped system of personal retirement accounts, similar to an approach taken by Chile in 1983, to permitting optional earmarking of a portion of existing payroll taxes for personal savings. This report summarizes the proposals that have emerged and the issues surrounding them.
Date: April 6, 1998
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security Taxes: Where Do Surplus Taxes Go and How Are They Used?

Description: The costs of the Social Security program, both its benefits and administrative expenses, are financed by a tax on wages and self-employment income. Commonly referred to as FICA and SECA taxes (because they are levied under the Federal Insurance and Self-Employment Contributions Acts), these taxes flow each day into thousands of depository accounts maintained by the government with financial institutions across the country. Along with many other forms of revenues, these Social Security taxes bec… more
Date: April 29, 1998
Creator: Koitz, David Stuart
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Inflation-Indexing Elements in Federal Entitlement Programs

Description: This report identifies key indexing elements in major federal entitlement programs under current law and presents the information in a summary table. The report provides a brief description of the measures of consumer price change used to index various elements of these programs under current law, as well as the alternative measure of consumer price change (the Chained CPI-U) that has been proposed for computing Social Security cost-of-living-adjustments (COLAs) and making inflation adjustments… more
Date: April 24, 2013
Creator: Nuschler, Dawn
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Retirement Savings and Household Wealth in 2007

Description: This report discusses various issues that impact the retirement income of Americans. About half of all workers in the United States participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan of some kind, a proportion that has remained relatively stable over the past thirty years. Because the majority of assets held in retirement accounts are invested in stocks, trends in stock prices have a significant impact on households' retirement account balances.
Date: April 8, 2009
Creator: Purcell, Patrick
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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Social Security: The Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP)

Description: This report discusses windfall elimination provision (WEP), which reduces the Social Security benefits of workers who also have pension benefits from employment not covered by Social Security. Its purpose is to remove an advantage or “windfall” these workers would otherwise receive as a result of the interaction between the Social Security benefit formula and the workers’ relatively small portion of their careers in Social Security-covered employment. Opponents contend the provision is basicall… more
Date: April 16, 2014
Creator: Sidor, Gary
Partner: UNT Libraries Government Documents Department
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