Is it time to reform social security?

Edward M. Gramlich, who chaired the Social Security Advisory Council that concluded its two-and-a-half-year investigation in January 1997, believes there is just one way to preserve the main social protections of Social Security while restoring its financial affordability. This approach involves moving to more advanced funding of future benefit costs. The book suggests a sensible way to bring about such a change, by combining modest curbs on the future growth of benefits with mandatory saving accounts on top of Social Security. The combination cuts the future growth in pension spending, restores the finances of the trust fund, and makes Social Security benefits affordable to the nation as a whole.