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Social Security Divides Candidates

Posted Jul 8, 08 10:29 AM CDT in Politics 

(Newser) – John McCain and Barack Obama are pitching profoundly different approaches to saving Social Security, the Washington Post reports. While McCain favors a mix of strategies including raising the retirement age, reducing increases in benefits, and introducing private savings accounts, Obama intends to bolster the program with higher taxes on upper-income workers.

Each candidates criticize the other's plan, but many experts question Obama’s attempt to offer any fix for a problem usually evaded on the campaign trail. "From the standpoint of the Democratic Party, I would think it would make the most sense to leave it alone," said one policy expert. "It's not an immediate, pressing issue."

Source Washington Post

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Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, seen here during a news conference in St. Louis, Mo., Monday, July 7, 2008. Obama has discussed his own proposal for fixing Social Security.   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill, seen here after speaking at a news conference in St. Louis, Mo., Monday, July 7, 2008. Some are questioning why Obama has raised the contentious...   (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., pictured here at a campaign town hall-style meeting at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Monday, July 7, 2008. McCain has...   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
Presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama are offering starkly different proposals to head off fears of Social Security insolvency.
In this Jan. 30, 2007 file photo, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., left, and Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill. greet on Capitol Hill in Washington.   (AP Photo/Dennis Cook, File)
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