Retirement Security Law Commons^™

Social Security In An Era Of Retrenchment: What Would Happen If The Social Security Trust Funds Were Exhausted?, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Social Security's income, including interest income on the Social Security trust funds' reserves, currently exceeds costs. The system, however, is facing a long-term deficit. Specifically, the Social Security Trustees project that, unless the Social Security Act is amended, by 2033 the system's reserves will be depleted, and its income will only be sufficient to cover about 75 percent of scheduled benefits.

This article addresses two questions related to the funding of Social Security. Part I discusses what would happen if the Social Security trust funds were exhausted. Part II discusses whether Congress could amend the Social Security Act to reduce …

An Overview Of The U.S. Retirement Income Security System And The Principles And Values It Reflects, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This article is designed to provide an overview of the U.S. retirement income security system from a comparative law perspective. Like many countries, the U.S. has a three tier pension or retirement income system, with the three tiers consisting of (1) Social Security, (2) employment-based pensions, and (3) individual savings. Thus, superficially, the U.S. retirement income security system resembles that of many around the world. Yet, in other ways, such as its focus on individual rights and responsibility, the U.S. system is unique.

The article begins by discussing the nine guiding principles of the U.S. Social Security system as identified …

Hope We Die Before We Get Old: The Attack On Retirement, Patricia E. Dilley

UF Law Faculty Publications

The American institution of retirement has sustained numerous attacks over the last twenty years, to the extent that it may cease to exist by the time most of today's workers reach their midsixties. Professor Patricia Dilley describes how all of the components of the "three-legged stool" that represents private pensions, personal savings, and Social Security, have declined so significantly in recent years that the combination may not be able to provide support for the elderly in the future, particularly those retired seniors who are in the lower and middle classes. Changes in employment policies, the markets for retirement savings investment, …

Redistribution Under A Partially Privatized Social Security System, Kathryn L. Moore

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Once viewed as a radical recommendation, proposals to privatize Social Security abound. Moreover, proposals to privatize partially Social Security are beginning to receive serious consideration. Accordingly, this Article will address the likely effect of partial privatization on Social Security's ability to redistribute income. For the purposes of this Article, privatization will refer to proposals that involve individuals directing their own pre-funded individual accounts and bearing the risk of investing in the private market and not to proposals that involve the federal government investing in the private market and bearing the risk. This Article will treat proposals that "add" a defined …