Social Security Reform

The RJC strongly supports efforts to preserve and strengthen Social Security. Individuals can handle their money themselves, and invest it much more successfully than the federal government. Social Security is facing bankruptcy due to the baby boom generation starting to reach retirement age. Social Security needs serious reform.

The RJC supports the idea of Social Security personal accounts. This reform would not change the benefits of retirees or those about to retire. Individuals below age 55 should be able to invest a portion of their Social Security money in Personal Retirement Accounts. These PRAs will build the financial assets for young workers, lead to a higher rate of return than the current Social Security plan. And very importantly, the payroll tax for Social Security should not be increased, but rather should be lowered as a means of promoting economic growth.

In an age where the vast majority of Americans have discovered the benefits of personal investing, it is time for the government to allow people to plan their own retirements, and get a higher return on their money. President Franklin Roosevelt recognized the eventual need for personal Social Security accounts. As he told Congress in 1935 when it created Social Security, “For perhaps 30 years to come, funds will have to be provided by the states and the federal government.” But after that time, FDR said, Social Security funds should come from “voluntary contributory annuities by which individual initiative can increase the annual amounts received in old age.”