由法律層面探討美國社會安全信託基金之改革

Legal Analysis of the U.S. Social Security Trust Funds Reform

美國社會安全制度設立至今已超過四分之三個世紀，期間雖有強度各異的改革出現，但目前卻處於無法永續營的危機之中。問題的癥結除先進國家通病——人口老化外，社會安全信託基金未得到妥善的管理與運用，成為惡化財務困境的重要幫兇。目前社會安全信託基金全數投資在美國政府發行之特別公債，且該債券無法次級市場自由買賣，因此可視為是對政府年度支出提供融資服務。本文由社會安全信託基金的改革論起，從律層面研究改制聯邦政府法人之可行性，探討如何妥善管理基金並能擺脫政治力的干擾，以求提升基金的投報酬率，避免破產的危機。

In the United States, Social Security is one of the most significant systems representing the Nation’s response to the plight of its elderly, disabled, and survivors. The system is now on the brink of bankruptcy, even though it has gone through many reforms in the past 78 years. The system’s financial problemcan beattributed topopulation aging, but more importantly, mismanagement of the Social Security Trust Fund makes it deteriorate. Currently, Social Security trust fund assets are invested entirely in non-marketable special-issue U.S. government securities that represent loans to the U.S. Treasury’s General Fund. The article lays emphasis on the reform of the Social Security Trust Fund, andanalyzes the legal feasibility of transforming the Fund into a Federal Government Corporation (FGC),