America Needs to Invest the Social Security Trust Fund Essay -- Argume

America Needs to Invest the Social Security Trust Fund Our nation ensures social welfare through Social Security. However, the United States cannot ensure the welfare of its own welfare system. To save Social Security, Americans in general do not favor an increase in the payroll tax, a cut in benefits or an increase in the retirement age. Furthermore, Americans are relying upon Social Security as their sole source of income at increasingly alarming rates. Social Security is intended to supplement retiree income, not account for 100% of it. Through elimination of the potential options, that leaves one necessary action: invest the Social Security trust fund in the stock market. According to the San Francisco Chronicle (Social Security, Sec. C, p 16), many people are concerned that investing Social Security's trust fund in the stock market will not only jeopardize their future income, but would result in the federal government influencing economic decisions. These concerns are uneducated assumptions. Under the proposed plan to invest a portion of the Social Security trust fund in the stock market, only new and previously unanticipated Social Security money would be invested. Part of The President’s plan entails allocating "more than $2.7 trillion in expected budget surpluses over the next 15 years or 62% of the total to directly bolster Social Security's cash reserves. Of that, nearly $700 billion or 25% would be invested in the stock market." This plan would eliminate the risk of losing payroll tax money because only budget surplus revenue would be invested. Many who oppose The President's plan have lived through the Great Depression, one of the bleakest times in American history. While the Great Depression was triggered ... ... belongs to us, the people. Therefore the government, which holds the key to Social Security and in essence, our future, needs to adjust the system to the needs of it's beneficiaries. Don't cut benefits, as many Americans rely on Social Security for a large portion of their income. Don't increase the retirement age because more and more Americans are retiring in their 50's to play golf in Florida or do whatever, wherever. And don't increase the tax we pay, because it's already being grumbled about by many Americans. But do increase our retirement income. It's time to accept some greater risk, just as the founding fathers did when declaring the colonies the United States of America and to take the leap of faith by investing in the stock market. BIBLIOGRAPHY "A look at the plan to save Social Security." San Francisco Examiner, January 31, 1999,Sec. C, p. 16.