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January 25, 2005

No Better Word Than Crisis

Rich Lowry has an interesting article on National Review Online today, in which he criticizes President Bush for referring to Social Security as facing a “crisis.” I understand Rich’s point that it may be counterproductive to paint Social Security’s financial situation as a crisis since the current pay-go system won’t begin running a deficit for a decade. It's easy for opponents—including the media—to paint the Bush administration as exaggerating, and discredit the concept of accounts by fixating on the debate about whether this is an actual “crisis.” However, there is a real need for everyone who supports personal accounts not to surrender the idea that there is an urgent need for reform, regardless of whether you want to characterize it as a crisis. Each year that we wait to take action, it becomes more difficult and more painful to put Social Security on a sustainable path. It means Social Security’s unfunded liability is continuing to grow, which means future taxpayers are going to face a larger and larger bill. Each year we fail to create personal retirement accounts as a part of Social Security is a missed opportunity for millions of Americans to begin accruing savings. Crisis might not be the perfect word, but I can think of none better to describe the urgency of seizing this opportunity.

Posted by Carrie Lukas at January 25, 2005 1:25 PM | Print