The fact that we're here celebrating Social Security shows some politicians' promises are worth more than others. Social Security as it is currently constituted is very efficient. We're talking about a system that really works quite well.

I think it's an object lesson that paying the cost of Social Security in the future is going to depend upon economic growth. If you don't have growth, our pensions and other obligations are going to become unaffordable.

The administration in my view is once again manufacturing a crisis. There is no crisis in the Social Security system. The system is not on the verge of bankruptcy.

I think the election of 2002 will be about Social Security reform. The situation is very polarized.

Those who say there's no problem and there's plenty of time are offering a misleading argument that the Social Security Trust Fund somehow has assets that can be used to draw upon starting in 12 years to pay benefits, but the trust fund does not contain cash or bonds or stocks to turn into funds. It contains IOUs reflecting the rate of the trust fund over the last few decades.

The major impact of Sept. 11 on privatization is the disappearance of the Social Security surplus, ... Before the attacks, it was questionable whether we had enough money available to pay for the transition to privatization. This makes the issue even more difficult.