Kent Conrad: “We face one of the worst budget forecasts I have ever seen.”

The new improvised system was not adequate.

I would just say our Retirement Security Plans and our Retirement Security Clearinghouses are responding to the underlying dynamic that Professor Mead has done such a good job in describing.

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

Social Security's financial challenge affects nearly our entire society, and the solutions will require a broad-based approach.