Politicians Mull Retirement Age Increase
November 23, 1999
The major political players on Sunday’s talk shows were asked about the prospect
for increasing the eligibility age for Social Security. On Meet the Press, George
W. Bush responded that a retirement age increase could be considered but only
as part of a larger package containing personal accounts. House Minority Leader
Dick Gephardt was asked the same question on CNN’s Late Edition and rejected
a retirement age increase as not “worthy of consideration.”
The proper approach, as Mike Tanner and Peter Ferrara outlined in A
New Deal for Social Security, is that an increase in the eligibility
age for government benefits should be considered only as part of a comprehensive
reform program that shifts control of workers’ savings – and hence control over
their retirement ages – to individual workers.
Under a privatized system of personal retirement accounts, workers could retire
as soon as they accumulated enough savings to provide a basic minimum benefit.
If they wished to continue working later into life, workers would not be penalized
as they are today.
On Fox News Sunday House Majority Whip Tom DeLay responded to retirement age
questions in the best way possible, “I’m looking to go in a different direction
and that’s empowering people rather than government.” Once that is done, retirement
age becomes a personal choice rather than a government mandate.
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