SOCIAL INSECURITY

Sens. Bob Kerrey (D-Neb.) and Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) today unveiled a blueprint forfixing the ultimate political sacred cow, Social Security, before the system becomes insolvent in 2030. On the list: raising the retirement age, curbing cost of living increases and allowing workers to invest some of their own payroll taxes inIndividual Retirement Accounts. Kerrey, who co-chairs a federal deficit-cutting commission, failed to get even a majority of that panel to endorse those ideas in December. Today, the senators took their warnings directly to the people: "As a nation, we are consciously damning our children to a very grim future if we simply continue to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that this massive problem doesn't exist," said Simpson. He plans Senate hearings on the matter this year.