Thompson Unveils Social Security Solution

On Novermber 9, Fred Thompson became the first candidate from either party to offer a detailed Social Security plan for the next presidential election. Earlier, Thompson noted that under the current system, today's youth will be "saddled with enormous deficits, taxes, and problematic retirement programs." The new plan involves cutting the growth of benefits, rather than raising taxes, and will include private retirement accounts, where the government would supplement every dollar saved with an additional $2.50, up to a maximum of $12,000 a year. Thompson's proposal represents a move towards privatisation, and with the first primaries less than 3 months away, Democrats quickly attacked the plan: Senator Barack Obama claimed that the plan would "undermine" the promise of secure retirement. Thompson hopes that he will gain support for confronting one of the election's major issues early on and criticized the other candidates, saying "Nobody wants to talk about it, except to say it's a big problem and then change the subject."