Teachers Guide - Karl Rove -- The Architect | Teacher Center | FRONTLINE

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Understanding Different Views of Social Security Reform: Background

Republicans and Democrats agree that there will be a problem with Social Security in the future, but they have different ideas about when the problem will occur and how large it is. Using the information you find in the Web sites below, complete the questions about President Bush's proposal to change Social Security and some of the counter-arguments.

» President Bush's Social Security Proposal

www.strengtheningsocialsecurity.gov is a Web site that announces and promotes President Bush's proposal that will allow workers to divert some of their Social Security payroll taxes from Social Security into private or personal accounts.

Working either alone or with people in your group, read through each of these sections on the "Strengthening Social Security" Web site.

Social Security: Need for Action:
http://www.strengtheningsocialsecurity.gov/need_for_action.shtml

Strengthening Social Security Permanently:
http://www.strengtheningsocialsecurity.gov/permanently.shtml

Voluntary Personal Accounts:
http://www.strengtheningsocialsecurity.gov/voluntary_personal_accts.shtml

African-Americans and Social Security:
http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsheets/africanamer.htm

» Alternatives to President Bush's Proposal

Several groups and individuals provide arguments against and alternatives to President Bush's proposal. Here are some examples among many:

The AARP is an organization that questions the need for the President Bush's proposal. This Web page articulates the AARP's criticism of the plan and describes its vision for retirement planning:
http://www.aarp.org/socialsecurity-about/Articles/frequently_asked_questions_about_social_security.html#position

Articles on the Democratic Party Web site characterize Bush's plan as:
A "gamble": http://www.democrats.org/news/200503240003.html
Bad for women: http://www.democrats.org/wvc/weekinreview/200503010006.html

Other Web sites characterize Bush's plan as detrimental to African Americans
[http://www.ncpssm.org/news/archive/vp_africanamericans/]
[http://www.democrats.org/news/200503150001.html]

Easy Fix For Social Security

This San Francisco Chronicle article explains how removing a cap on taxable earnings could eliminate the Social Security deficit and make the system equitable by ensuring that regardless of earnings, the same percentage of each person's income would be paid into the Social Security system:http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2005/03/25/BUGGRBUARF1.DTL

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