Greenspan warns of ‘tough choices’ with Social Security

Alan Greenspan today warned that the nation faces "tough choices" as it considers ways to finance promised Social Security benefits from a pay-as-you-go system facing huge shortfalls and dependent on a shrinking work force. Delaying the retirement age for older workers could "ameliorate some of the potential demographic stress," the Federal Reserve chairman said at a Jackson Hole, Wyo., symposium sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas. "As a nation, we owe it to our retirees to promise only the benefits that can be delivered. If we have promised more than our economy has the ability to deliver to our retirees without unduly diminishing real income gains of workers, as I fear we may have, we must recalibrate our public programs so that pending retirees have time to adjust through other channels," he added.