Argumentative Essay On Nigga - 1734 Words

Nitaila Woods Tania Berg WGSS148 5 December 2017 I Am Not Your Nigga/ They Call It Reverse Racism The word Nigga/Nigger defined by the dictionary is â€Å"A racial slur, usually directed at black people. Nigga defined by Urban Dictionary is â€Å"a words which evolved from the derogatory term â€Å"Nigger†. Tupac best defined the distinction between the two as â€Å"A Nigger is a black man with a slavery chain around his neck, whereas a Nigga is a black man with a gold chain around his neck.† Being half black and growing up around black cousins and aunts and uncles Nigga for me was always synonymous with friend or family. I never carried any malevolence when saying the word. I think that’s what tupac mean when he said slavery chain vs. gold chain. Because†¦show more content†¦When I say Nigga and when a white person does I feel the meaning behind both are different. Slavery began not so long ago only a couple hundred years and the word began as a way of dehumanizing us and as a way to fit us into a group to make us feel less than. There are chain s,blood,sweat,rape,greed,envy,hate,,lust,disgust and shame molded in that word. For years oppressors would yell it and call for us with it. When I hear anyone who isn’t black say Nigga/Nigger, I hear and rememebr and see all of the hate and everything we’ve fought so hard against.When I hear people say â€Å"Well You can call us cracker† To that I would say, yes we could but what would be the point. Their is not power behind our words. We are not in a position where we can inforce the word and make it mean something as powerful as Nigga or Nigger. White people were never taken from their country to be sold and traded. The word Nigger is loaded full to the brim with actions,choices,feelings expressed upon my ancestors ebony backs. I think the idea that reverse racism could ever exist in a society where millions of black men and women were killed, raped, and sold for money is ridiculous. Slavery still exist today it’s just an institution and racism exists alongside it but instead of outright racism we have to check the box of which ethnicity you feel you belong to the most. Black people get killed in the streets by police

Career Action Plan - 1895 Words

Career Action Plan After going over all of my options over the past 2 yeas, I have decided that I would like to follow through with a career in small business management and administration. This career is contained in the Business Management and Administration. The duties and of this career include planning, organizing, directing and evaluating business functions that are essential to efficient and productive business operations. A Business Management and Administration career opportunities are available in every sector of the economy, I picked this career because I have always wanted to work under my own conditions and rules. I want to create a less formal work place for my employees. I want to create a business tat gives back to†¦show more content†¦I also have experience in Sign Language; I know how to ask certain questions that could be helpful in a conflict to the hearing impaired.â€Å" With these skills being a Business Manger and Owner will be slightly easier because I can communicate with people that are not fluent in the English language. Even though these skills can be helpful in certain situations, the only skill that is truly useful is experience. From my first practice interview I learned that if you dress too casually than they might think that you are not serious about the job, but if you dress to formally they will think that you don’t understand the job completely. It is best to just wear a pair of black slacks, black dress shoes, and a white, black, or crà ¨me colored shirt. For my interview at McDonalds I wore a pair of black slacks, a white button up shirt, and a pair of black dress shoes, also for my interview at Redners Warehouse Markets, I wore a pair of black slack, beige shirt, and a pair of black shoes. In which all of my interviewers commented on how I was dressed nicely for the interview. For orientation I wore a similar outfit for both occupations. It is a good idea to wear semi-casual clothing for a job shadowing as well. If semi-casual attire does not fit the occupation, it is best to dress for the job you are shadowing or applying for. For my jobShow MoreRelatedProfessional Career Action Plan1345 Words   |  6 PagesProfessional Career Action Plan Kara Jenkins HCS/449 January 2, 2015 Instructor: Michael Jones Professional Career Action Plan It is agreed upon by many that the pathway to achieving success involves the establishment of goals. 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Moral Values free essay sample

Moral rights in Canadian copyright law are protected under the Copyright Act of Canada and include an authors right to attribution, integrity and association of a work. Moral rights are to be distinguished from economic rights; moral rights essentially being derived from the reflection of the author’s personality in his or her work, whereas economic rights grant an author the ability to benefit economically from their work. An author of a work retains moral rights for the length of the copyright, even if the copyright has been assigned or licensed to another party. b Amending our Terms of Use: Please comment on a proposed amendment regarding undisclosed paid editing. close Moral rights in Canadian copyright law From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Moral rights in Canadian copyright law are protected under the Copyright Act of Canada and include an authors right to attribution, integrity and association of a work. Moral rights are to be distinguished from economic rights; moral rights essentially being derived from the reflection of the author’s personality in his or her work, whereas economic rights grant an author the ability to benefit economically from their work. An author of a work retains moral rights for the length of the copyright, even if the copyright has been assigned or licensed to another party. Moral rights cannot be assigned or licensed, but can be waived by contract. [1] Contents 1 History 2 Statutory provisions 2. 1 S14. 1, S14. 2, S17. 1, and S17. 2 2. 2 S28. 1 and S28. 2 2. 3 S34(2) 2. 4 Berne Convention 3 Canadian case law 3. 1 Theberge v. Galerie dArt du Petit Champlain Inc. 3. 2 Snow v. the Eaton Centre Ltd. et al. 4 American moral rights 4. 1 Gilliam v. American Broadcasting Companies 5 Academic commentary 6 See also 7 References History Moral rights in Canada can be traced back to a 1915 amendment of the Criminal Code. The amendment created a criminal offence to change a copyrighted dramatic, operatic or musical work that was to be publicly performed for profit or to suppress its title or authorship without the author’s consent. [2] Canada also legislated moral rights into the Copyright Act in 1931, stemming from a revision of the Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works in 1928. The provision was further clarified and expanded in 1988. In 2012, the Copyright Modernization Act added moral rights for aural and sound recorded performances. [3] Statutory provisions The relevant provisions of the Copyright Act that deal with moral rights are:[4] S14. 1, S14. 2, S17. 1, and S17. 2 Section 14. 1 defines moral rights as the authors right to the integrity of the work, the authors right to create the work under his or her own name, pseudonym or anonymously (known as the right of attribution). Section 14. 1 also lays out that moral rights can be waived in whole or in part, but cannot be transferred or waived using an assignment or license. Section 14. 2 states that moral rights last the length of the term of copyright and upon the authors death the rights do pass to those upon whom the work was bequeathed. [5] Section 17. 1 and 17. 2 provide the same rights and definitions as 14. 1 and 14. 2, but in relation to live aural performances and sound recordings. [6] S28. 1 and S28. 2 Section 28. 1 and Section 28. 2 lay out the definition of moral rights infringement. Infringement includes any act or omission that is contrary to the moral rights of the author in general. The integrity of the work is infringed if it is to the prejudice of the honour or reputation of the author; distorted, mutilated or otherwise modified; or used in association with a product, service, cause or institution (known as the right of association). It is not an infringement of the moral work to physically change the location of the work or to restore or preserve the work in good faith. [7] S34(2) Section 34(2) lays out the civil remedies for moral rights infringement and includes: all remedies by way of injunction, damages, accounts, delivery up and otherwise that are or may be conferred by law for the infringement of a right. [8] Berne Convention Article 6bis of the Berne Convention, to which Canada is a party, grants moral rights, which are codified similar to the Canadian Copyright Act above. There are rights to authorship, integrity of the work, the moral rights persist as long as the economic rights to copyright, and the rights can pass on to the after death of the author if the ratifying state permits. Remedies are also governed by the ratifying state. [9] Canadian case law There has been very little Canadian case law on the subject of moral rights and therefore many of the interpretations of the provisions in the act have yet to be determined. Two cases are discussed below. Theberge speaks to the difference between economic and moral rights, and Snow lays out a test to determine whether prejudice to the honour or reputation of the author has occurred. Theberge v. Galerie dArt du Petit Champlain Inc. Main article: Theberge v. Galerie dArt du Petit Champlain Inc. In Theberge, a 2002 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada, the plaintiff was an artist who sold paintings that were printed on poster paper. The defendant bought one of the posters and, using a specialized process, transferred the physical ink from the poster to a canvas. The main question in the case was whether there was copyright infringement. Justice Ian Binnie writing for the majority stated that there was a distinction between economic and moral rights: The economic rights are based on a conception of artistic and literary works essentially as articles of commerce. Whereas moral rights are derived from the civil law tradition: They treat the artists oeuvre as an extension of his or her personality, possessing a dignity which is deserving of protection. They focus on the artists right (which by s. 14. 1(2) is not assignable, though it may be waived) to protect throughout the duration of the economic rights (even where these have been assigned elsewhere) both the integrity of the work and his or her authorship of it (or anonymity, as the author wishes). Justice Binnie went on to say that moral rights are infringed if the work is modified to the prejudice of the honour or reputation of the author [s. 28. 2(1)]. The logical implication from this provision is that modifications to the work that do not prejudice the honour or reputation of the author are within the rights of the copyright owner. Binnie concluded that the plaintiff in this case was attempting to pass off an economic right as a moral right. That is, the plaintiff was attempting to prevent the defendants from accessing a different market (economic incentive) by arguing that they were infringing his moral rights. Therefore, the majority of the Supreme Court of Canada held in favour of the defendant. Justice Charles Gonthier in dissent held that the court not only needed to consider the infringement of moral rights but also the change in the medium of the painting [prohibited by section 3. (1)] and the change in the physical structure of the work [prohibited by section 28. 2(3)]. [10] Snow v. the Eaton Centre Ltd. et al. Main article: Snow v. The Eaton Centre Ltd. In Snow, a 1982 case at the Ontario High Court of Justice, the defendant had purchased a sculpture of 60 geese that they placed inside their shopping centre. During their Christmas celebration the defendant tried to attach ribbons to the necks of the geese. The plaintiff alleged that the addition of the ribbons modified his work in a manner prejudicial to his honour or reputation. Justice OBrien held that moral rights give the plaintiff greater rights than rights based on libel or slander and that moral rights are not unconstitutional. He also stated that prejudice is measured subjectively by the author and found for the plaintiff in this case: I believe the words prejudicial to his honour or reputation in s. 12(7) involve a certain subjective element or judgment on the part of the author so long as it is reasonably arrived at. [Note s. 12(7) refers to previous Copyright Act] Therefore the test for the subjective prejudice to the honour or reputation of the author is to be measured by the author, so long as it is reasonably arrived at. [11] American moral rights See also: Moral_rights#In_the_United_States Under American law, moral rights are not specifically recognized. However, as the following case illustrates moral rights can be upheld using economic principles. Gilliam v. American Broadcasting Companies Main article: Gilliam v. American Broadcasting In Gilliam, a 1976 decision of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, the BBC had agreed to allow ABC to broadcast 6 Monty Python episodes. The only rights that the agreement spoke to with respect to editing were trivial changes such as time. ABC ended up editing a significant portion of the episodes, amounting to 24 minutes cut from the original 90 minutes. At trial, the injunction sought by the plaintiffs was denied, and they appealed. The Second Circuit Court of Appeal recognized that this was an issue of moral rights, which they defined as the right of the author to have their work attributed to them in the form that they created it. Nonetheless, American law does not explicitly recognize moral rights and favours economic rights over personal rights of the author. The court got around this by saying that: American copyright law cannot be reconciled with inability of artists to obtain relief for mutilation or misrepresentation of their work to public on which artists are financially dependent. Furthermore, other legal avenues such as misrepresentation in contract law or the tort of unfair competition can provide protection against mutilation. The court found that mutilation or misrepresentation is a valid cause of action under section 43(a) of the Lanham Act, a federal act pertaining to unfair competition. The court found that the editing done by ABC had misrepresented the work of the plaintiffs and therefore found for the plaintiffs. It is sufficient to violate Lanham Act, which has been invoked to prevent misrepresentations that may injure plaintiffs business or personal reputation even when no registered trademark is concerned, that a representation of a product, although technically true, creates a false impression of the products origin Plaintiffs, who alleged that editing done for television broadcast of programs based on their scripts mutilated original work, stated valid cause of action under the Lanham Act against television network for distortion of plaintiffs work caused by editing. Gilliam exemplifies that even if moral rights are not explicitly recognized they can be protected under different legal causes of action. [12] Academic commentary Academic commentary on moral rights differs. One perspective holds that moral rights allow an author to maintain and promote his or her creativity. [13] This stems out of a notion that an author is intimately tied with his or her work. Another perspective holds that allowing authors to protect their artwork may in fact damage artistic creation by preventing modification or in some case destruction of an artwork. [14] Which position is correct is unclear, however, it is a fact that there is only a small amount of case law concerning moral rights. Furthermore, the statutory language around moral rights is ambiguous, and it is conceivable that moral rights may come into contention with fair dealings provisions, in which case a balancing of an author’s moral rights and a user’s fair dealing rights is necessary.

Social Security Reform Essay Example

Social Security Reform Essay The Social Security reform is a central focal point of George Bush’s second term and an area that has raised a heated debate in today’s America. The system that operated more or less efficiently up to this point is now reported to be deadlocked in a demographic crisis. With more baby boomers retiring, the system may soon face a shortfall in funding for its current obligations. President Bush put forward a solution to forestall the crisis through introduction of privatized accounts. This paper will examine the proposed solution and explore its pros and cons.1. Is there a crisis in Social Security?The current Social Security system was created in 1935 under Theodore Roosevelt when social problems plaguing the nation in the time of the Great Depression necessitated the creation of a system that would provide benefits â€Å"to workers and their family members upon retirement, disability, or death† (Century Foundation). Since that time the amount of benefits to be rec eived by a person after death was always tied to the amount of payments to the system made by an individual lifetime over the course of one’s career. Now the system is the only method of providing comprehensive coverage to retired Americans. Taxes are contributed to the system by over 96% of working US citizens, going out in payment to over 47 million people who are supported by the Social Security payments. The significance of Social Security to American retirees is illustrated by the fact that â€Å"although the average monthly payment to those individuals is a modest $895, Social Security constitutes more than half of the incomes of almost two-thirds of retired Americans† (Century Foundation). Its impact has to be considered against the background of the fact that for one-sixth of the payment recipients, the Social Security payments are their only source of income.The Social Security system is designed in such a way that current workers pay for the benefits of curre nt retirees with 12.4% of their wages for those earning under $90,000 a year. So far the system â€Å"has been taking in more money than it has had to pay out since the 1980s† and â€Å"will continue to do so through 2017† (Sahadi 2005). In 2018, however, it will have to tap the Treasurys accumulated in the surplus years in order to continue to pay benefits in full, which it will be able to do until 2042. Then full payouts will no longer be possible as the collected revenue will not cover the liabilities. Instead, the funds will be available only to cover 73% of then existing obligations, in line with Social Security Trustees’ assessments. It is interesting to note that â€Å"in 1997, the Trustees predicted that the Trust Funds would run out in 2029† (Century Foundation). There are more optimistic projections for the state of Social Security offered by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in the report that pinpoints 2052 as the year in which Social Secu rity funds are likely to run out of the excess formerly accumulated in the form of Treasurys, after which tax revenue will cover approximately 80% of the existing obligations (Sahadi 2005). Although more optimistic, these projections also point to the need to reform Social Security.The crisis looming in the pay-as-you-go system is caused by several factors: the large number of people in the Baby Boomer generation about to retire, lower number of children in today’s families and the rising life expectancy. All of these factors are not expected to disappear soon. That is why most agree that actions on reforming the Social Security system are long overdue. By the way, the retirement of the Baby Boomer generation is no longer a new issue in the history of the US Social Security. In 1981, the Greenspan Commission created by President Ronald Reagan and chaired by Alan Greenspan worked on the proposals to strengthen Social Security in order to prevent the exhaustion of the funds. Th e commission delivered a proposal for reforms that were implemented in 1983 and took the amount of reserves in the fund to the current $1.5 trillion (Century Foundation). But for the reforms in 1983, the Social Security would be depleted much sooner than in 2042.2. Privatization of AccountsThe current plan to reform Social Security hinges on three proposals submitted by the Presidents Commission to Strengthen Social Security in 2002. The cornerstone of these proposals is switching to new private accounts that will divert some of the funds from current payments to Social Security and allow workers to invest a portion of their salaries in private accounts.   The privatization scheme permits employees to divert 4% of their taxable wages to these private accounts. This is roughly one-third of the payroll tax that constitutes 12.4%, and the â€Å"cap would be indexed to wage growth† (Sahadi 2005).Money in private accounts is available for investment in a few diversified portfoli os, but employees cannot put it in individual securities. In some way these accounts will be similar to Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Since some portion of funds has been diverted from Social Security payments, the workers who had used the scheme will see their Social Security payouts reduced at the time of their retirements proportionately to how much they have redirected to private accounts.With all this done, the Social Security still has to fund current obligations. If workers begin to divert part of the funds into private accounts, the system will experience a shortfall much sooner. The presidential plan is to overcome this shortfall through a combination of benefit reduction, federal borrowing and tax hikes that will amount to between $2 trillion and $3 trillion (Anrig, Wasaw 2004). This means, however, that the reform will most likely be a burden on the shoulders of those who are now only entering the workforce or are far from retirement age.The proposal for private accounts has now materialized in the so-called GROW accounts that are a stripped-down version of the private accounts initially suggested by the Republican administration. The bill sponsored by Louisiana Republican Jim McCrery, who is also Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee Chairman, was motivated by the staunch opposition by Democrats in Congress to the original plan that was considered too risky as it included stock investments. To counter this argument, the Republicans introduced the so-called GROW accounts that would allow workers to invest their funds in Treasury bonds, based on the full faith and credit of the U.S. government. In fact, with GROW accounts the workers would parallel the functioning of the Social Security trust fund that also invests in Treasurys now. With GROW accounts, â€Å"workers who sign up would own a share of these bonds and the interest payments that would accrue from them over their working years† (Lambro 2005).GROW accounts offer signif icantly less risk than the originally suggested private accounts. First, bonds carry in general less risk than stocks and therefore can be regarded as more dependable. Treasurys, in particular, are considered to be very safe investments that have won trust in the international financial community and make up a significant proportion of the reserves in many central banks. The fact that GROW accounts replicate the functioning of the Social Security trust fund itself, there is little reason to say that the risk will increase with the introduction of such accounts. Commentators approve of the accounts saying â€Å"that instead of having nothing but promises that they will get their future benefits, [retirees] would own secure, tangible assets no one could take away from them when they are ready to retire and which could be left to their heirs† (Lambro 2005). There is also less chance that money in these accounts will be diverted to the financing of different government projects a s it happens today, when the surplus in the Social Security trust fund is simply diverted into various programs the government has to sponsor. GROW accounts have a much better chance of winning support in Congress than the originally presented version of private retirement accounts.;;3. The Benefits of Privatization of AccountsProponents of the privatization claim that workers using private accounts will own their pension funds and will acquire a source of capital that will be more or less free from political will and whims of the ruling elite. So far, they claim, Americans making contributions to the system have no vested rights to subsequent payouts and merely act on a social contract â€Å"whereby the next generation implicitly promises to pay for the retirement of the previous generation† (Borden 1995). The ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court in Fleming v. Nestor (1960) denied workers any rights to their contributions or future benefits.Besides, private retirement accounts ( PRAs) will function much like current IRAs and enable their users to choose from a larger choice of investments. Hopefully, they will be able to rake in a better return than is brought now by the extra-conservative Social Security. This, too, opens the road to losing money due to more risk, since risk-return trade-off is an inherent in any financial system. The analysis of the General Accounting Office shows that for those born in 1930 the return on Social Security comprised 3%, and for those born in 1960 this return is 2% (Borden 1995). This is a level that will be easy for balanced portfolios to outperform given that the economy does not hit a downturn.The supporters of the proposal point to the successful experience of private pension accounts in Chile. The Chilean privatization plan was very cautious, with the requirement to place at least half of the assets in government securities and the guarantee of the minimal pension on the part of the government. Even such incomplete priv atization has generated considerable benefits, among which analysts cite â€Å"overall cost of labor, higher net wages, increased national savings, greater retirement system equitability, and a large infusion of capital into domestic financial markets† (Borden 1995). In addition, the average rate of return on the pension plan in Chile equaled 13% at the time when economy returned only 7%. The success of the Chilean experiment points to the possibility that private accounts prove successful in the US too.4. Objections to the Privatization PlanThe most important objection to the privatization of pension accounts is that it is a measure directed at benefits far removed in time and for today’s generation the problem of funding Social Security will get only worse. Indeed, if the portion of payroll taxes that now goes towards repayment of benefits for other retirees is diverted, the shortfall will be even larger. As stated above, the federal government expects to reduce bene fits and borrow funds, which raises little optimism in a country that is already running unprecedented budget deficits. Opponents of the reform insist that budget deficits will raise â€Å"the likelihood that national savings will decline-all of which could reduce long-term economic growth† (Anrig, Wasaw 2004).Thus, the presidential proposal does little to avert the crisis in Social Security. Instead, the implementation of the plan will only aggravate the crisis that as the need to pour funds both into the private accounts and formerly promised payments to current beneficiaries â€Å"requires drawing down the Trust Funds’ reserves much more rapidly, resulting in their depletion about twenty years sooner than they otherwise would be† (Century Foundation).Most objections are raised by the fact that individual welfare appears to be in jeopardy. There is no guarantee that people will make successful investments, and they van end in a financial deadlock because the e conomy hits a recession at the time of their retirement. In the stock-bullish past century, three times there have been 20-year spans when stock markets showed little growth or decline. An individual who gets into such a time span will be in trouble. On the contrary, Wall Street bankers stand to pocket sizeable amounts of money from the privatization when managing privatized accounts. The privatization will hit mostly today’s young who will bear the brunt of funding the costly transition, as well as women and minorities who usually have less wealth at the time of retirement which makes them more dependent on Social Security benefits (Anrig, Wasaw 2004). Now, as mentioned above, the amount of funds accumulated by the worker over the lifetime is the sole factor in defining the amount of payouts, while implementation of the President’s plan will make this amount dependent place on the performance of the investments in the retiree’s portfolio over the course of oneà ¢â‚¬â„¢s career.The presidential team has been charged with the attempt to dismantle Social Security as a system and to change the very ideology of the state from the social protection to the â€Å"ownership society† in which the poor will be left on the sidelines. The idea that the state will offer support for those citizens unable to provide for themselves in their old age is still valid, although it may be regarded with suspicion by neo-conservatives. The Social Security debate then turns into the debate about the core values of the American society.Another, more practical objection has to do with the need to create new government apparatus that would engage in monitoring the workers’ private accounts. The new accounts that would parallel current trust fund accounts would require almost the same amount of administrative work as the current system, doubling the bureaucracy. Greg Anrig (2004) points out that â€Å"many workers accounts would be so small that they wou ld be of no interest to profit-making firms†, considering that an average US employee earns about $25,000 in taxable earnings. The two percent that have to be diverted into the accounts have to amount to about $500 annually. The administrative costs can consume whatever benefits are to be reaped from investment in higher-yielding stock markets, much like administrative costs eat up returns of actively-managed mutual funds.5. Are There Other Options on Social Security Reform?Bush’s plan for account privatization is not the only possible solution. There are at least four other discernible options, including:1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   A drop in benefits available to retirees of the next generations. These are certainly unpopular measures, but â€Å"the president is said to be considering a change in the formula used to calculate starting benefits† (Sahadi 2005).2)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the current payroll taxes may not be enough to cover the existing obligations, these taxes can be raised. Alternatively, the government can raise the cap on the taxed income. This, too, will hardly generate enthusiasm as it will mean that current generations of Americans will have to pay more than their predecessors while counting on approximately the same amount of benefits.3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Use a portion of the general revenue to pay for the shortfall in Social Security. This solution is going to affect the whole population as general revenue is not unlimited and has already been overstretched to pay for the current programs. Various federal programs will have to take a cut in funding if allocations are redirected towards Social Security instead of these programs. Instead, deficits can be raised, but this is going to be a grave problem since the US already has huge budget deficits.4)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Finally, the government can consider raising the retirement age from the current 65. This seems to be the most viable solution. As life expectancy grows, Americans would enjoy approximately the same number of years of leisure, if retirement age is raised proportionately to the increase in expected longevity. This would offset the effects of population aging by offering people to stay longer in the workforce. Those who do not wish to work until a new limit, can choose to save money that will last them, for instance, from 65 to the new retirement age when they can start receiving benefits from Social Security. Alternatively, the government can allow withdrawal from IRAs at the same age – 65, while pushing Social Security benefits till an older age.6. Proposals on Reforming Social SecurityIn my view, a reform of the system is long overdue, and the sooner the changes are implemented, the better for the economy that will have to suffer a lot more if the administ ration chooses to wait. The privatization proposal may be a good option if the accounts are well-structured, but it does not solve the main problem – depletion of the Social Security trust fund and in fact will precipitate such depletion. Under these conditions, the privatization of accounts will have to be combined with some other measures.In my opinion, this measure would be the rise in retirement age. Rise in the retirement age, as mentioned above, would offset the increase in life expectancy and reflect the demographic changes that happen in society. As aging is one of the main causes of the crisis in Social Security, a rise in the retirement age would provide a fair solution to the problem, affecting all prospective retirees born after a certain year. Establishment of this cutoff (for instance, application of this later retirement to everybody under 30 now) would allow solving the problem of funding obligation in 2042. The number of retirees would not rise so drastically , but the number of people who will be paying for them would increase. The burden of payment would then be spread out over a vast mass of people which would make funding less of a problem.The government can also increase the requirements for companies that are currently obliged to provide pensions for their employees. Today, the guarantee extended by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation to corporations, urges them to underfund their pension obligations, which in turn may generate a crisis. If a large number of companies go bankrupt, the P.B.G.C. will be forced to back them all according to its obligations. For this reason, making the rules for corporate financing more stringent would add to the probability that companies can take care of their former employees.In my view, workers should be allowed to choose between private accounts and former Social Security system. If they accept the risks associated with private investments, they have to brace themselves for the risks that are inevitably present in these investments. Otherwise, they will have to reckon with lower payments that today’s retirees can count on. This will provide an incentive for employees to opt for the private accounts, simultaneously making the process of retirement provision more democratic, giving employees some choice between options.ConclusionThe Social Security reform has been a highly controversial issue. On the one hand, most recognize that the continuation of the current pay-as-you-go system is impossible due to demographic causes. On the other hand, the proposal to reform the system through account privatization is not welcomed by everybody. Some see the proposed change as a way to once again deprive the less wealthy at the expense of rich bankers, while others envisage in the reform salvation from the looming shortfall in Social Security. If President Bush’s scheme is adopted, the few next decades will show how successful the idea will be. The strong opposition enco untered by this plan in Congress shows that private accounts will most likely be adopted in the abridged form, most probably as the currently proposed GROW accounts. As the proposal involves measures that will affect the solvency of the Social Security trust fund, they need to be combined with the measures that will raise the amount of future contributions, such as increase in payroll tax or rise in the retirement age.Works CitedAnrig, Greg Jr., and Bernard Wasow. â€Å"Twelve Reasons Why Privatizing Social Security is a Bad Idea.† Social Security Network, the Century Foundation, December 14, 2004. 14 December 2005 http://www.socsec.org/publications.asp?pubid=503.Borden, Karl. â€Å"Dismantling the Pyramid: The How Why of Privatizing Social Security.† Social Security Privatization (CATO Institute) 1 (August 14, 1995). 14 December 2005 http://www.cato.org/pubs/ssps/ssp1.html.Century Foundation. The Basics: Social Security Reform (Revised for 2005). 1 February 2005. 14 December 2005 http://www.socsec.org/publications.asp?pubid=509.Lambro, Donald. â€Å"Grow accounts beckon†. The Washington Times 22 August 2005. 14 December 2005 http://washingtontimes.com/commentary/20050821-103903-5706r.htm.Sahadi, Jeanne. â€Å"Social Security reform: A guide†.   CNN/Money January 8, 2005. 14 December 2005 http://money.cnn.com/2004/12/06/retirement/social_security/.