Greenspan: Social Security is not in 'crisis'

Again, Bush is over-hyping things he wants to get done, and stretching the truth.
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Thursday that Social Security is not in "crisis" as President Bush has declared...

...the focus of the hearing was Social Security, which Greenspan said is not in crisis. "Crisis to me usually refers to something which is going to happen tomorrow or is on the edge of going into a very serious change," he said. "That is not going to happen."

Greenspan said private accounts funded with a portion of the 12.4 percent Social Security payroll tax would not address the program's solvency. But they could move the program to a pre-funded basis while providing a sense of ownership, and possibly transferable wealth, to individuals lower down the economic ladder "who have had to struggle with very little capital."

However, he reiterated that higher government borrowing to finance the move to private accounts poses a risk of higher deficits and interest rates.