Barack Obama and John McCain are both proposing dramatic changes to social security, taking on the financially fragile "third rail of American politics" that Congress and recent Presidents have been unable to repair.
There is plenty of disagreement among the 2008 candidates on how to reform the social security system- or even if the system needs fixing in the first place.
Barack Obama : Strongly opposed to privatizing social security. Believes that the first place to look for ways to strengthen social security is the payroll tax system. currently, the social security payroll tax applies only the first $97,500 a worker earns; Obama supports increasing the maximum amount of earning covered by Social Security. Would work with Congress to choose a payroll tax reform package that will keep social security solvent for at least the next half century.
John McCain: When asked about Social Security during a GOP debate, he stated : "Every man woman and child in America needs to know it's going broke, and we have got to do te hard things. We have got to fix it for the future generations of Americans....Its got to be bipartisan. And you have to go to the American people and say we won't raise your taxes. We need personal savings accounts, but we (have) to fix this system".
