Finally, all proposals for personal accounts include a safety net that will protect workers in the event of misfortune. That safety net can be set above the poverty line so that no one ever has to retire in poverty. That is something that Social Security simply cannot offer. As 39 House Democrats, all women, urged recently in a letter to President Clinton, we must pay attention to how Social Security reforms will affect women. That is certainly sound advice.
Women deserve real retirement security and financial independence.
It is time that we control the 12.4 percent of our wages that is, for many of us, the only money we have to save and invest. Darcy Ann Olsen is entitlements policy analyst at the Cato Institute, and Carrie Lips works on the Cato Institute's Social Security Project. This article appeared in the 5th year anniversary issue of Eternelle magazine. The Cato Institute Project on Social Security Privatizaton E-mail the Webmaster 1000 Massachusetts Ave.