Balancing Act

Everyone agreed that something had to be done. Otherwise, Social Security's main retirement fund would have slid into the red by July. But there are few more politically volatile issues than whether to restore the system to solvency by raising more revenues or by reducing benefits. After wrestling with the problem for a year, a bipartisan commission headed by Economist Alan Greenspan recommended a mixture that leans more heavily on new revenues than on benefit cuts. Passed overwhelmingly by Congress, the plan represents a victory for Claude Pepper and others who opposed shrinking...

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