Michael Tanner

In the following viewpoint, Michael Tanner argues that Social Security is a financially unsound program in need of reform. According to Tanner, a tax increase will be necessary by 2013 because the system will owe more in benefits than it collects in revenues. Tanner also asserts that Social Security is unfair to poor and minority Americans, who are among those most likely to benefit if Social Security is privatized—that is, replaced by a system in which individuals fund their retirement through private investments. Tanner is the director of the Social Security Privatization Project for the Cato Institute, a libertarian public policy research organization.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Tanner, what are the components of the Social Security trust fund?
2. What is the “democratization of capital,” as explained by the author...