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Century Foundation meeting on Social Security lacks facts
November 19, 1998
Today, the Century Foundation hosted a breakfast meeting on Women and Social
Security in New York City. Darcy Olsen, entitlements analyst at the Cato Institute,
who recently published a briefing paper on the impact of Social Security privatization
on women, is concerned that the discussion about private accounts was likely
rooted in paternalistic assumptions about women.
"According to a study by researchers at Harvard University, virtually
every woman--single, divorced, married or widowed--would be better off financially
under a system of full private retirement accounts. Skeptics have responded
to proposals for personal accounts with paternalistic assumptions about women
that are simply invalid. It is nonsensical to believe, on the one hand, that
women are capable of becoming business owners, political leaders and heads of
families, but they are not, on the other hand, responsible or smart enough to
prepare for retirement, even in a system of carefully structured accounts with
financial advisors."
The findings of the study included the following:
- On average, personal accounts would provide single women with 58 percent
more income that Social Security and wives with 208 percent more.
- Today, Social Security leaves 13.6 percent of women in poverty.
- Privatization plans typically include a safety net that can ensure that
every woman's retirement income is at least at or above the poverty line.
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