News Release

April 4, 2005

Media Contact: (202) 789-5200

The Cato Institute to Run Radio Ads on Social Security
Libertarian public policy research foundation is the pioneer on Social Security choice

WASHINGTON -- The Cato Institute announced today that it will begin a radio advertising campaign advocating Social Security reform. The $125,000 ad campaign will begin on Tuesday, April 5th and consists of five radio commercials that will run in the Washington, D.C. media market. The spots focus on aspects of personal retirement accounts that have gone largely ignored thus far in the debate over Social Security reform.

The first ad, "Opportunity," changes the focus of the debate from solvency to ownership. "But while politicians debate whether Social Security is facing a 'crisis' or only a 'problem,' we should see this as an opportunity to create a better retirement program for all Americans," the ad states.

The second ad, "Right to Social Security," dispels the myth that Social Security benefits are guaranteed and highlights the virtues of a system that would allow Social Security ownership for younger workers.

The third spot, "Risk," confronts the idea that personal retirement accounts are just too risky by pointing out risks associated with doing nothing to fix the broken system.

The fourth spot, titled "Easy Fix," points out the folly in simply raising taxes or cutting benefits to "save" Social Security, when the real problem is that Americans have no ownership rights to their benefits.

And finally, the fifth spot, "Wealth Gap," demonstrates how personal retirement accounts can help to reduce America's growing wealth gap between rich and poor by allowing the working poor to create real, inheritable wealth they could pass on to their children and grandchildren.

"This ad campaign is designed to educate the public on the real issues involved with Social Security reform," said Michael Tanner, director of the Cato Institute's Project on Social Security Choice. "The real promise of personal retirement accounts can be summed up in three words: ownership, inheritability and choice."

To listen to the radio ads visit: http://www.socialsecurity.org/index.html

Contact:

Michael Tanner, director of Cato's Project on Social Security Choice, mtanner@cato.org

Jamie Dettmer, director of media relations, 202-218-4628, jdettmer@cato.org

Holiday Dmitri, senior media relations manager, 202-218-4613, hdmitri@cato.org

Evans Pierre, director of broadcasting, 202-789-5204, epierre@cato.org