The Importance of Social Security As we begin this important undertaking, it is worth returning to fundamentals and reminding ourselves why it is so important that we move with dispatch toward achieving a bipartisan agreement. The case for rapid action rests on two key propositions. First, the sooner we move, the more we can take advantage of the economy's extraordinary performance achieved under President Clinton's economic strategy. Right now our economy is remarkably strong and our budget is the healthiest it has been in a generation. Unemployment has been at or below 5 percent for 19 months.
Inflation is low and stable.
Real incomes are rising again, breaking out of the pattern of stagnation that had persisted since the 1970s. And for the first time since 1969, the Federal government has posted a unified budget surplus. But we may not always be in such a strong position. And we will likely never be in a stronger position to face the major challenges ahead of us associated with an aging society. Today it is 3.3 to 1.