Bill Clinton: “Well, first of all, yes, it would be possible to do that. Let me say with regard to your assertion about mismanagement…”

“Well, first of all, yes, it would be possible to do that. Let me say with regard to your assertion about mismanagement, I don't necessarily agree with that. It is true that the Congress raised the Social Security tax back in 1983 because the Social Security Trust Fund was in trouble, because the American people kept demanding opportunities for people to retire at younger ages while we were living to be older and older. So they decided to gradually, a month a year, over a period of several years, raise the retirement age to 67. They funded the thing better, and then they essentially used the Social Security tax to downplay the deficit, which meant that most of the Social Security money was being invested in Government bonds. Now, they are good. That's money in the bank; that money will go back there. And there are those who argue that, well, if it were invested in other things it could have earned a higher rate of return, and therefore, we wouldn't--we'd have a more stable Social Security System for a longer term. That may be true, but we'd have to be willing to assume a higher rate of risk as well. And that's one of the things we're debating now. But I can tell you right now the Social Security Trust Fund is solvent, and it's solid. There will be financial problems in the Social Security Trust Fund in the second decade of the next century because my crowd will reach retirement age. I'm the oldest of the baby boomers, and the people born between 1946 and 1964 are the largest single group of Americans ever born. So when we start to work less and play more golf and go hunting and fishing, it's going to be a real burden on everybody still working unless we have some reforms. And I think we ought to-- that's one of the things we ought to look at. We did take one step last year: We made the Social Security program and agency totally independent of any other arm of the Federal Government. And there is a report coming out sometime in the next couple of weeks about what else we ought to do to make it stable into the next century. We have a solemn obligation to do it, and as long as I'm there, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that the money is there for you and everybody else who paid into it. AIDS [A participant questioned administration policy and efforts regarding AIDS.]”