Declared 2012
Libertarian Presidential Candidate
Former Chair of the Libertarian Party of Texas
Roger Gary
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Gary Position on Social Security
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Roger Gary calls social security a failure near imminent collapse. He believes Americans should be deferring those funds into IRA and 401k accounts instead.
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Gingrich Position on Social Security
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• Gingrich thinks that Social Security has been looted and must be protected.
• He would modernize it with personal Social Security savings accounts.
• He advocates converting it to an IRA type system.
• Gingrich would reduce taxes on Social Security earnings.
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Declared 2012
Libertarian Presidential Candidate
3-Tour Combat Vet, Philosopher and Law Student
RJ Harris
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Harris Position on Social Security
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Honor this debt obligation by providing the promised benefits, including inflation and cost of living adjustments, while simultaneously allowing the younger generations to opt out of it with buy outs and private retirement accounts.
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Miller Position on Social Security
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• Miller will offer a voluntary opt-out of Social Security to all American citizens. Those who choose to leave the program will have their money returned back to them.
• Those who choose to remain or are unable to choose will be provided all of the benefits that they have been promised.
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Declared 2012
Democratic Presidential Candidate
Current President of the United States
Barack Obama
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Obama Position on Social Security
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• Unlike his predecessor and some of his major opponents, Barack Obama has declared his firm opposition to the idea of privatization of the social security structure saying that it would create more losers with no assets to rely on during retirement.
• In his opinion, the best method of fixing social security and other entitlement programs is to reverse the policies which have 'ruled the roost' under the Bush administration. In this way, not only would the social security be stable and solvent for most of the American citizens but would also result in tax policies which are favorable for many of the middle-income groups in the country.
• Barack Obama also rules out the stock market option for social security saying that to encourage individuals to pursue a high-risk and high-investment strategy would be an inadvisable course of action. Instead, individuals should invest only those savings in the stock market which are not a part of the social security.
• According to Obama, there is nothing wrong with the fundamental model of social security but there is a long-term problem of the number of retirees exceeding the number of current workers. This can be rectified by raising the limit of payroll tax for wealthy individuals and exempting the middle class to the extent possible.
• To save the social security from becoming bankrupt, Obama feels that one option of preserving social security is to opt for a bipartisan solution which would not only enable the social security fund to remain solvent for the next many years to come but would also prevent its privatization.
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Declared 2012
Libertarian Presidential Candidate
New York attorney and founder of the Paralegal Institute
Carl Person
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Person Position on Social Security
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Person suggests on his campaign website for the phasing out of social security to be replaced with a more workable model.
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Romney Position on Social Security
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• Mitt Romney has refused to raise taxes as a means for enhancing the social security fund because according to him this would only slow down the economy. He believes that social security can be balanced through measures like encouraging people to invest in personal accounts, changing the retirement age and calculating benefit for wealthy Americans on the basis of Consumer Price Index.
• Mitt Romney has stated that he would excuse any individual over 65 years of age from Social Security taxes as not only would it encourage people to keep working but would also ensure the continued growth of the economy.
• Mitt Romney has taken the stand that he is against cutting benefits for low-income Americans, in favor of tying Social Security benefits to prices and also in favor of bringing together various groups of people to work out a solution to control the rising costs of Medicaid and Medicare.
• Mitt Romney has expressed support for Obama's proposal putting the money attached to Social security in private accounts and has also suggested extension of retirement age and base indexing on prices rather than wages.
• Mitt Romney is of the opinion that Social security and Medicare are two sectors which are in dire need of reforms and restructuring and the only way to achieve this would be for all political parties to sit together behind closed doors and have a comprehensive discussion without letting things get out of control.
• According to Mitt Romney, not only should the political parties be mindful of the expectations of the present recipients but should also take into account the future.
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Snyder Position on Social Security
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Snyder believes that the only flaw with the current Social Security system is Congress’ ability to get their hands on the money that goes into it. It is not unreasonable to raise the retirement age to reflect modern life-spans. Snyder is open to reasonable plans including options in lieu of full payment/full benefits system of today.
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Woodring Position on Social Security
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Social Security and Medicare Reform:
The restructuring of the benefits with no federal income tax deducted so American retirees can survive
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Declared 2012
Libertarian Presidential Candidate
Libertarian Activist
R. Lee Wrights
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Wrights Position on Social Security
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Wrights believes social security, Medicare, and Medicaid should be eliminated, but that those who are eligible to collect it now should not be deprived what they were already promised:
“Of course it is dangerous and not “politically correct” to suggest cutting spending on programs like Social Security and Medicare. Anyone who even hints at making any changes to these “sacred cows” is quickly vilified as someone who hates the elderly. That’s typical political demagoguery used by politicians without integrity or intellectual honesty.
“The truth is politicians have lied to seniors for decades, and are still lying to them. The truth is that Social Security and Medicare are Ponzi schemes perpetuated for decades by politicians. They are classic examples of the way politicians bribe one group of people using money taken from another group of people to buy votes.
“These programs are unsustainable because they can only be supported by taking more and more money from more and more people. That means taking money from the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren of the very people who paid into the programs in the first place. Taxing our grandchildren and great-grandchildren to pay for our retirement is not only immoral, it’s economically destructive.
“This doesn’t mean that the federal government should renege on the promises made to people who have paid into federal benefit programs. Libertarians recognize these entitlements as actual contractual obligations which must be honored. The federal government has the assets to make good on the promises made to seniors.”– R. Lee Wrights, press release.
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Wuensche Position on Social Security
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• Vern Wuensche believes that those 55 and older should not have their benefits tampered with.
• Wuensche believes that those under 55 should be allowed to invest a portion of the payroll taxes in a menu of investment options. Most of the profits from this would go to the investor’s retirement fund but a portion would go to help reduce the present shortfall in our system.
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