Retirement Security

Retirement security is becoming a goal beyond reach for America's working families. Fewer workers now are covered by pension plans and fewer plans that employers provide offer guaranteed, lifelong benefits. Companies have been treating bankruptcy as a business strategy to eliminate pensions, and even healthy companies are reneging on commitments to help provide their employees with a secure retirement. The Bush administration and its congressional and corporate allies continue attempts to privatize Social Security, the bedrock of retirement security for working families.

The AFL-CIO advocates a plan for ensuring retirement security based on these principles:

• Retirement security should be based on mutual responsibility, with financing and risk allocated equitably among government, employers and workers;
• Every full-career worker should have the opportunity to retire at 65 with at least 70  percent of his or her pre-retirement income;
• Retirement benefits should be portable;
• Defined-contribution plans should be structured to serve the interest of workers, not those of their employers or Wall Street;
• Retirement plan participants should be represented in the governance of their plans;
• As the foundation of America's retirement security, Social Security must be strengthened, not damaged by privatization schemes.

Where do the presidential candidates stand on retirement security?

Hillary Rodham Clinton (D)

Clinton says she opposes privatizing Social Security and has campaigned against the Bush administration's attempts to do so.

"Hillary Rodham Clinton: Opposes any proposal that would divert resources from Social Security and into private accounts. Did not offer a specific proposal to keep the program solvent. Campaign said, 'As president, Hillary would work to build a national consensus about what it will take to keep Social Security solvent.'” (The State, 4/22/07)

Privatization would hurt women, survivors and people with disabilities, she says.

"Mrs. Clinton said, 'I was adamantly opposed to the president's plan to privatize Social Security because the very people it would have hurt the most are older women.'” (New York Sun, 1/29/07)

"Clinton pointed out that Social Security is the largest source of retirement income in the country. It provides half or more of the income for 6 out of 10 seniors. At the same time, it's a safety net for the disabled and those who lose their spouses. Indeed, 30 percent of those who receive Social Security get disability or survivor benefits, not retirement benefits. 'I have yet to hear the president say a word about survivor and disability benefits,' Clinton says. 'And there's not much he can say, because these important elements of this program would face the same severe cuts as the retirement program would if their privatization plan were to go forward.'” (Christian Science Monitor, 3/8/07)

Clinton voted for a resolution amendment saying Congress should reject any Social Security plan requiring deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt. (S. Con. Res. 18, 3/15/05)

John McCain (R)

McCain voted against a resolution amendment saying Congress should reject any Social Security plan requiring deep benefit cuts or massive increase in debt. (S. Con. Res. 18, 3/15/05)

He says Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid cannot remain "unchecked."

"Promises made to previous and current generations have placed the United States on an unsustainable budget pathway. Unchecked, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare obligations will grow as large as the entire federal budget is now in just a few decades." (Campaign website)

Barack Obama (D)

A secure retirement is part of the basic respect owed to workers, Obama says.

what we have to make real today is the idea that in this country, we value the labor of every American. That we're willing to respect that labor and reward it with a few basic guarantees—wages that can raise a family, health care if we get sick, a retirement that's dignified, working conditions that are safe.” (AFSCME national convention speech, 8/7/06)

He says he opposes privatizing Social Security:

"Barack Obama: Opposes privatization. Favors 'an equitable mix of benefit and tax changes' to extend the solvency of the program. Is open to lifting the amount of income that is taxed for Social Security. Backs a bipartisan effort to address the issue." (The State, 4/22/07)

Obama voted for a resolution amendment saying Congress should reject any Social Security plan requiring deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt. (S. Con. Res. 18, 3/15/05)

 

Ronald Paul (R)

A proponent of limited government, Paul is reported to look back with nostalgia to a time before both Social Security and Medicaid.

"Republican Ron Paul missed out on the 19th century, but he admires it from afar. He speaks lovingly of the good old days before things like Social Security and Medicaid existed, before the federal government outlawed drugs like heroin…." (The Washington Post, 7/9/06)