Issue Position: Keeping Social Security Secure

Issue Position

President Bush and his allies want to invest portions of our Social Security funds in the stock market, either indirectly through individual accounts or directly through the trust fund. We need only look at the stock market to see how risky this idea is. A new study examines what would have happened if we privatized Social Security three years ago. If just two percent had been carved out for individual accounts and half of that had been invested in the stock market, $29 billion would have been lost since 1999. While we need to take steps to preserve and strengthen Social Security in the long-term, privatizing the system will require that current and future retirees' benefits are cut. Social Security must continue to provide what it has since its inception: a risk-free, progressive monthly benefit that lasts a lifetime and is guaranteed to increase every year with the rate of inflation.

Source