Social security: a worldwide issue.

The social security program in the United States is entersocial security programs. Social security systems are now ing a new era, a time to rethink and reshape this great social entering a difficult period of painful adjustments in which program to better meet the needs of the American public in finances and benefits will have to be closely scrutinized and the future. I am concerned that we exercise the utmost carefully balanced. The optimistic expansionist philosophy intelligence as we go about this endeavor. With that goal in that underlay social security planning ever since World War mind, I have been exploring the most comparable social II has now changed to one of guarded hope that the best of security systems of foreign countries to see what we might the past can be preserved while the considerable needs of the learn from their experience. future are addressed. As part of this process, in late May and early June, I traveled to four countries-France, Germany, Sweden, and the United Kingdom-to discuss trends in social security abroad with responsible government officials, representatives of labor and employers, and staff at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. During the month of May, the United States hosted for the first time in 15 years a major international social security gathering-a working meeting of the International Social Security Association-which afforded me an opportunity to engage in a dialogue with a wide variety of foreign social security ofticials. This report reflects the current state of my observations about the major issues that are confronting social security worldwide. The basic purpose of this report is to set out the insights into the changes in the benefit and financial structures of social security systems that are suggested by a comparison of various national experiences. There are no easy or obvious solutions to the issues that confront us. But there are some inescapable realities that must become more widely understood if social security systems are to be maintained as successful social programs.