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[Debate/토론] (PC-018) Should Social Security Be Privatized?
최고관리자  |  18-09-30 09:33
Social Security has become the largest single government program in the world, accounting for 24% ($888 billion) of total US federal spending in 2015. Since 2010, the Social Security trust fund has been paying out more in benefits than it collects in employee taxes, and is projected to run out of money by 2034. One proposal to replace the current government-administered system is the partial privatization of Social Security, which would allow workers to manage their own retirement funds through personal investment accounts. 

Proponents of privatization say that workers should have the freedom to control their own retirement investments, that private accounts will give retirees higher returns than the current system can offer, and that privatization may help to restore the system's solvency. 

Opponents of privatization say that retirees could lose their benefits in a stock market downturn, that many individuals lack the knowledge to make wise investment decisions, and that privatization does nothing to address the program's approaching insolvency.

Pros

1. The current Social Security program will become insolvent by 2034, so a better system is urgently required.

2. With personal accounts, retirees will see higher returns on their investment.

3. With personal accounts, retirees will see higher returns on their investment.

4. Individual investment accounts would boost economic growth by injecting money back into America's financial system.

5. Privatization reduces government workforce, red tape, and wasteful spending. 

6. Being able to invest in one's own private retirement account removes the uncertainty that accompanies the current, government-controlled program.

7. Private retirement accounts give workers the contractual right to retirement benefits, a right missing from the current Social Security system. 

Cons

1. Privatizing Social Security would do nothing to solve its impending insolvency, and would actually make it worse.

2. Private Social Security accounts will undermine the guaranteed retirement income provided by Social Security by putting peoples' retirement money at the whim of the stock market.

3. Many people lack the basic financial literacy to make wise investment decisions on their own.

4. Privatizing Social Security would dramatically increase the national debt. 

5. Privatizing Social Security would expand, not reduce, government bureaucracy. 

6. Guaranteed benefits would be reduced significantly under a privatized system. 

7. If workers had to adopt private accounts, unscrupulous financial advisors could take advantage of novice investors.