The Bush Administration made reforming Social Security a major initiative in its second term. The president's proposal to divert some of the money citizens pay into the program into private or individual accounts have created a stir led people on both sides of the debate to put forward their own numbers and theories about the program's health.

There are however a few facts on which all side agree. If nothing is changed in how Social Security operates, the program will begin spending more than it taxes in from workers in 2017. At that point, Social Security will theoretically begin drawing on the "trust fund" that has been created through years of the program taking in more than it spends. In the year 2041, under current assumptions, the trust fund would be exhausted and the program would not longer be able to pay out full benefits for retirees.

Most experts agree that the president's private/individual account plan would not fix Social Security's long-term fiscal problems - at least not on its own. But the impact of the accounts and other proposals is not completely clear. The numbers game with Social Security is extremely complicated.

Listed here are some links from supporters and detractors of the president's plan as well as a link to the Social Security Administration's home page. The SSA page offers data on issues like the number of people drawing SS dollars in the nation at large and state-by-state.

Social Security Administration:
Home page- http://www.ssa.gov/
National facts and figures- http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/factsfig.htm
State-by-state data- http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/statefctshts.htm
Trustee's 2005 Report on the program- http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/TR/TR05/index.html

Supporters of the President's plan:
The White House page - http://www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/social-security/
The Club for Growth's project - http://www.socialsecuritychoice.org/
The Cato Institute's page - http://www.socialsecurity.org/

Opponents of the President's plan:
AARP's page - http://www.aarp.org/money/social_security/
AFL-CIO page - http://www.aflcio.org/issues/retirementsecurity/socialsecurity/
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities page - http://www.cbpp.org/pubs/socsec.htm

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