Assigned Items

		Final Recommendation Our final decision was not to raise the Social Security retirement age. According to Leonhart's Fix the Budget puzzle Social Security is 10.6% and cutting from it wouldn't make a huge difference. The age to retire has already gone up and Social Security benefits have been lowered. People also need jobs in the first place; according to Galbraith, the chances of finding a job at age 55 tends to be slim. The unemployment rates have been increasing and searching for a stable job can be hard. We believe that it's fine if people want to work longer, however we can't expect people who do manual labor to work longer. According to Ross Eisenbrey, the answers to our financing problem isn't to make people in physically demanding jobs to work until they drop. A better idea would be to make the rich pay a fair share of the taxes needed to fund full benefits. We also believe that the older generation should pass on their jobs to younger workers who are freshly coming out of school and looking for jobs. It's easy to say that people are living longer and can work longer, but factors such as limited jobs, people’s health condition, and deciding whether or not to pass on jobs to younger people with fresh skills and ambition should be considered before hand. These issues need to be resolved before congress jumps to the decision of whether or not to raise the Social Security retirement age. We also believe that there are other cuts that should be made from other areas instead of cutting from Social Security. Social Security cannot contribute to the nation's long-term debt as much as the other areas can. So deficits are not a reason to raise the retirement age or make any other benefit cut. Raise the Social Security retirement age to 68                          $71 billion The increase in longevity has caused some to favor higher eligibility ages for Social Security. This option would gradually raise the age from the currently planned 67 to 68. Supporters say that the change would go a long way toward fixing Social Security’s shortfall, by reducing benefits and by encouraging people to work (and thus pay payroll taxes) for longer. Opponents say that longevity increases have been smallest among low-income workers, who need Social Security the most. Raise the Social Security retirement age to 70                          $247 billion This option would gradually raise the age to 70, potentially saving an additional $175 billion.
		Reasons in favor of cuts It would help control spending in Social Security and Medicare.     MacGuineas, Maya. "Put Off Retirement." New York Times. 2/14/11.  Key Quote: "Delayed retirements will protect seniors from outliving their private savings. Working longer increases the labor supply and helps economic growth, as well as increasing income tax revenues, thereby reducing the overall budgetary shortfall."  "Maya MacGuineas is the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and director of the Fiscal Policy Program at the New America Foundation." (New America) Comments: Agree: It would bring in more revenues without raising taxes and help the economy grow. Disagree: Some people are unemployed and can't find jobs.  Encourage Americans to remain in the workforce longer. Shapiro, Ari Daniel. "In Their 90s, Working for More Than Just a Paycheck." npr. 11/1/10.  Key Quote: "Older workers often appreciate flexible hours, and for a business, this means affordable part-time employment. And companies do not have to provide benefits because Medicare tends to cover the seniors' medical needs." "Shapiro quoting Caitrin Lynch, who is an associate professor of anthropology at Olin College." (npr) Comments:  Agree: People are living longer and some people enjoying going to work and want to work till they are incapable of doing so. Disagree: Not everyone is working at a desk or machine; some people are doing manual labor which can be hard to do at the age of 68/70.  Protect seniors from outliving their private savings. Geewax, Marilyn. "Raising the Retirement Age: Can it Balance the Budget?" npr. 3/6/11. Key Quote: "Longer work lives would generate significant benefits to the economy, the federal budget and, most importantly, individuals' own retirement security." "Geewax quoting Andrew G. Biggs who is a former Social Security analyst and Assistant Director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Choice." (Cato)  Comment: Agree: Having people work longer would make them pay more taxes which would help reduce the cost of government pensions and social security benefits. Also the new health care exchanges will allow seniors to purchase health care privately, so there is no longer need for Medicare to subsidize them so early on. Disagree: It would increase the level of poverty for people in their 60's who can't find a job or collect Social Security benefits. Reasons against cuts If people do retire later, they need jobs in the first place. Geewax, Marilyn. "Raising the Retirement Age: Can it Balance the Budget?" npr. 3/6/11. Key Quote: "Extending the retirement age for them just means a longer job search, a futile waste of time and effort." "Geewax quoting James K. Galbraith who is an economist at the University of Texas at Austin who writes frequently for mainstream and liberal publications on economic topics. He is currently a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at the Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Senior Scholar with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. "(Wikipedia)  Comment: Agree: Raising the early retirement age would just increase the level of poverty among people in their mid 60s who could neither find jobs nor collect Social Security benefits. Working longer is not a choice for millions of Americans, especially for those who hold physically demanding jobs.  Rho, Hae Jin. “Hard Work? Patterns in Physically Demanding Labor Among Older Workers.”cepr. August 2010. Key Quote:"Despite the fact that the retirement age increase is supposed to encourage workers to work longer, many workers would be physically unable to extend work lives in their jobs, and they would most likely be left with no choice but to receive reduced benefits." "Hae Jin Rho is a Research Assistant at the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC." Comment: Agree: Not everyone is working at a desk or machine; some people are doing manual labor which can be hard to do at the age of 68/70. The economy needs young workers with the latest jobs skills.  Galbraith, James K. "Actually the Retirement Age is Too High."Foreign Policy. Jan/Feb 2011. Key Quote:"In the United States, the financial crisis has left the country with 11 million fewer jobs than Americans need now. No matter how aggressive the policy, we are not going to find 11 million new jobs soon. So common sense suggests we should make some decisions about who should have the first crack: older people, who have already worked three or four decades at hard jobs? Or younger people, many just out of school, with fresh skills and ambitions" "James K. Galbraith is an economist at the University of Texas at Austin who writes frequently for mainstream and liberal publications on economic topics. He is currently a professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and at the Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin. He is also a Senior Scholar with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. "(Wikipedia)  Comment: Agree: When we raise the retirement age, we take jobs away from people who are starting out. Disagree: Young workers with the latest jobs skills allows a company to change direction quickly and become more advance, however wisdom keeps a company going in tough times because the older generation already knows what needs to be done, they've been through this before.