Kent Conrad: “We are on a collision course with reality, and the reality is we cannot afford as a Nation all of the things that we are…”

I wish I could look you in the eye and say, you know, if we just had the will, we could reverse this, and we could go back to a time when defined benefit plans were on the increase. I do not think that is in the cards.

It was incredibly important that we not only made Social Security solvent, but we lifted the bottom 20 percent dramatically.

We did a whole series of things in our Social Security reform not to discourage people from working, but to encourage them to continue working if they are able to do so.

I do, and I made that argument to the commission, and others on the commission made some of the points that you are making now.