Social Security Reform: IOUs in the Cookie Jar

Selected Summary Points from IOUs in the Cookie Jar

Terms like "bankruptcy" and "insolvency" exaggerate the problems of Social Security.
The Social Security trust funds are not now in trouble.
A 1.5-trillion-dollar surplus, sufficient to pay all benefits for 2.8 years, existed in the Social Security trust funds at the end of the year 2003.
The surplus is expected to grow to more than $4 trillion by the year 2018.
Most U.S. wage earners pay more Social Security tax than income tax.
Surplus Social Security payroll taxes are now being used to fund operating expenses of the U.S. Government.
The 12.4% Social Security payroll tax could be reduced to 9.4% and still cover current benefit payments.
Some numbers cited to promote the idea that Social Security is facing a crisis -- the alleged 10.4 trillion dollar unfunded obligation and the 16-retiree-per-worker ratio of the 1950s -- are deceptive because they have been selected out of context.

The book above is available for print publication. Publishers' inquiries welcome.

(I must admit: the authors of these articles express many of the important ideas better than I.)