Luddly Neddite
Diamond Member
- Sep 14, 2011
- 63,947
- 9,980
- 2,040
Martin Feldstein, Top Reagan Adviser: Elderly Facing Poverty Crisis
Martin Feldstein, a former top economic adviser to President Ronald Reagan, said too many elderly Americans are trapped in poverty.
"I think its really shocking that we spend about $500 billion a year on Social Security, and yet we have many, many old people in poverty," said Feldstein, a Harvard economist, at The Economist's Buttonwood Gathering on Wednesday. "Something's wrong with that system."
Feldstein served as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under Reagan from 1982 to 1984, when the poverty rate fell. But the poverty rate when Reagan left office was higher than it was when he took office.