Straight talk on Social Security

The gloomy prospects for reform are exceeded only by its importance

Jun 7th 2001|washington, dc

ON JUNE 11th, President George Bush's Social Security commission will hold its first meeting. Chaired by Patrick Moynihan, a former senator from New York, and Dick Parsons, co-chief operating officer of AOL Time Warner, this 16-member bipartisan group continues a venerable tradition of panels created to advise on America's most contentious public-policy issue—pension reform. With the exception of a commission chaired by Alan Greenspan in 1983 that resulted in a hike in both the payroll tax and the retirement age, most have had precious little impact. Unfortunately, this group may fare no better.

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Straight talk on Social Security”