In 1950, the payroll tax supporting Social Security was 2%, today it's 6 times that rate (12%). In order to pay benefits to children born today, the Social Security Trustees estimate that rates would have to be raised to 18% or more.

On Wednesday, President George W. Bush is expected to reveal his plan to reform Social Security in a major way. He will make the case for individual retirement accounts that younger workers today can opt into and have some form of control over. This "control" will not be absolute, and it will not be mandatory for workers to use the private individual investment options the accounts will provide. The investments will be limited to low risk index funds, treasury notes and the like. Yet, even these low risk investments historically generate a greater return for workers when they reach retirment than current government programs provide. Workers who opt to stay in the government managed program can expect to see benefits paid along the same lines as recipients today. Additionally, those workers that select private investment accounts will also be allowed to include account balances in their estates and pass along this "nest egg" to their descendents.

The move is certainly epic in it's scope and promises to be one of the largest realignments of government programs ever. The implications are staggering for the American economy and citizenry. Capital will be re-entering the marketplace instead of being sucked into a governmental black hole, Americans will amass greater wealth, driving the economy forward and raising the standards of living for retiring workers.

The administrative costs of making the changes will of course be an issue, but workers who elect to invest in the private accounts won't see a higher rate as the worker is already required to have monies deducted, it's just a change in where that money is going. The exact cost cannot be determined as of yet (that will be determined by Congressional amendments and changes to the program), but it will be less than the estimated 10.4 trillion we will need by 2042 if we do nothing. (10.4 Trillion is more than double the wages and salaries of American workers in 2004.)

The proof will be in the payoff though, and a certain amount of faith in the American economy will be needed. How this will shake out is anyone's guess, it could even stall in the Congress and leave us scrambling for alternaives for the future. The "third rail of American politics" has been untouchable to previous administrations and success by the Bush administration in this endeavor would be a major blow to the Democrats who always have positioned themselves as the caretakers of the program. The Democrats know that it's broke though, and even though they will oppose almost every suggestion out of hand, they do know that something has to be done. Perhaps common sense and the betterment of the nation will overcome partisan politics.

It will be the court of public opinion that makes the difference in this battle, it will be up to each and every one of us to examine and evaluate the changes honestly and without partisan bias. We will be passing these changes on to our children and our children's children. Our opinions in this debate will matter greatly to its success or failure, and more than ever before will our voices need to be heard by our national leadership.

Many liberal and conservative groups are already trying to prime the pump for success and failure of the initiatives. Websites and newspaper articles are everyday calling for support or rejection of a program that has yet to be announced. Both sides of the debate are calling on their viewers and readers to send form letters to media outlets and politicians stating various positions on the as yet unannounced program. It's ridiculous to see two or three letters to the editor which are virtually identical in form decrying the suggested changes, equally annoying are the same form letters supporting the changes before the plan is even presented.

I'm sure that I'll be making a number of comments about Social Security over the coming months. I'll do my best to analyze and interpret the changes as I understand them and I hope to be able to present that information here in a concise and coherent form. I'm not an economist, and I'm not an expert on banking or investing, but I care about developing an honest understanding of the program and it's changes. I don't promise to be right, I don't even promise to support or reject it, but I do promise to be honest about what I see and what I believe the changes entail.

For now, though, it's important for everyone to understand their Representative's and Senator's positions on reform and monitor their activity to ensure that they are working on behalf of your best wishes and interests. In this era of "permanent campaigning" and partisan hackery, it's more important than ever to monitor your elected officials positions on Social Security Reform.

Use these links to find out your Senator's and Representative's positions and the means to contact them.

There will be alot of rhetoric out there to sift through from both sides of the aisle. It'll be up to each of us to make our own decisions about our future and the future of our nation's children as this process goes forward. Recent events have shown us that we can't rely on the media, so we have to rely on ourselves to examine the evidence and make our opinions known. I'll share my thoughts with all of you and I hope in return, some of you do the same.

--Jason