Is Social Security in the best interest of Americans?

Social Security is a program of old-age, unemployment, health, disability, and survivors insurance maintained by the U.S. federal government through mandatory payments by employer and employees.

One side says:
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  • Investing on your own will yield higher returns than Social Security.

    Investing on Wall Street can easily yield a return of over 10%. Social Security, on the other hand, works out to 3%.

  • Individual retirement accounts give people control over their own money.

    It's a basic freedom to do you what you want with your money. Why should we let the government make our investment decisions?

  • Individual retirement accounts are safer than counting on Social Security.

    If you buy a Treasury bill, there is a contract that says that the government must pay you. Social Security, even its very existence, is subject to the whims of Congress.

  • The Social Security program is running out of money.

    This is a long-term problem. In 1940 there were 159 working salaries per retiree; now there are 2.8. It's only a matter of time before Social Security goes broke.

  • Many of our leaders are working to undermine Social Security.

    From raiding Social Security to blocking reform, many in Congress would like the program to end. Would you get in a boat whose crew was trying to sink it?

  • Getting rid of Social Security will help shrink government.

    Social Security employs 60,000 bureaucrats. It has 1,400 offices around the country. And it costs us $12.5 billion in administrative costs.

  • Individual retirement accounts are transferrable.

    With Social Security, if you die before you collect, what you paid in doesn't go to your heirs. With private accounts, accumulated benefits are passed on.

  • Social Security Trust Fund
  • Social Security vs. Private Retirement

The other side says:
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  • Social Security is far safer than individual retirement accounts.

    Social Security not an investment, it's a promise by our government. In 2008 the stock market fell by 40% – Social Security checks were not affected.

  • Long-term funding of Social Security just requires tweaks.

    For example, we can "scrap the cap" on higher income. Or raise contributions a modest amount.

  • Most people are bad investors and won't end up with enough.

    The average nest egg of 50-year-olds is $50,000. Half of all people over 50 have received calls from debt collectors. Social Security deals with this reality.

  • The only threat to Social Security is anti-government ideologues.

    Social Security is a government program that works – spectacularly well. People who want to show that government can't do anything right have to try to kill this effective program.

  • Switching over to private accounts would cost trillions of dollars.

    We can't just close the system down overnight. That means that for a while we'll stop collecting and keep paying out. The changeover will unavoidably add trillions to the national debt.

  • Privatizing Social Security is great for Wall Street; you – not so much.

    Wall Street fees are much higher than Social Security's (less than 1% in administrative costs). Wall Street PR efforts are the only reason we're even talking about privatizing Social Security.

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