Fast Fact

The Social Security situation is not as dire as con­servatives sometimes pretend. The program is currently in surplus. Under cautious estimates, it is projected to fall short around the year 2052.

Experts suggest a replacement rate of 75-80 percent of pre-retirement income is considered adequate, though rising retiree health care costs have led some to question this rule of thumb.

Corporate pension plans are underfunded by as much as $450 billion while the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation – which provides a partial guarantee of worker pensions for bankrupt companies – continues to show about a $23 billion deficit.

In 2005, Americans spent more than they saved for the first time since the Great Depression. People spent $1.04 for every $1 earned.

69% of Fortune 1,000 CEOs are covered by traditional defined-benefit plans, while only 21% of private-sector workers are covered by the plans.

Social Security benefits lift nearly 13 million seniors age 65 and older above the poverty line and lifted one million children under 18 above the poverty line in 2002.

Extending Social Security taxes to incomes over $90,000 would eliminate the program’s projected long-range deficit.