Social Security’s political present & financial future

Air Date: August 14, 2012

Rolls of blank social security checks run through printers and are processed at the U.S. Treasury's Financial Management services facility in Philadelphia. (AP file photo)

Hour 1

The Associated Press is in the midst of a four-Sunday series exploring the changing financial dynamics of Social Security and implications for workers, retirees and their families. With baby boomers retiring, what had been a great deal for earlier generations is starting to shortchange people retiring today. But the solutions all involve big changes, which, until Republican candidate Mitt Romney selected Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate on Saturday, were not being seriously considered on the campaign trail before November’s election. Now Ryan’s sweeping proposals for reforming entitlements like Social Security are in the foreground of the presidential campaign. Starting our conversation is the AP’s lead writer on the series, STEPHEN OHLEMACHER. Then, we’ll dive deeper into the financial, political and demographic pressures Social Security is under with DEAN BAKER, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and MICHAEL D. TANNER, senior fellow with the Cato Institute and architect of Cato’s Project on Social Security Choice, which has been leading the charge to privatize Social Security.

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[audio: 081412_100630.mp3]

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