For decades, policy wonks on the Republican fringes had talked about turning Social Security, the government safety-net program for retirees, into a system of private investment accounts.

NEWYORKER: Fussbudget

By needing to cover, say, only 20 percent of the population with a safety net, the Social Security tax could be dramatically lowered.

FORBES: Fixing The Nagging Problem Of Social Security -- Part 2

"When they can't fix the problems with the social security and the employment system, we need to have a safety net to capture the poor, " said Tadashi Yamamoto, professor of social security at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto.

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Workers who choose the personal accounts are backed by a federal guarantee that they will receive at least as much as promised by Social Security under current law, maintaining the social safety net of the current program.

FORBES: Social Security Personal Accounts Are A Path To Prosperity

It is enough to give us a historic opportunity to strengthen the country's safety net by putting Social Security on a sound financial footing for generations to come.

FORBES: Magazine Article

He said the co-ordination of social security legislation was portrayed as a "safety net" for hard-working self-employed people who fall on hard times.

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Perhaps the first step in fixing Social Security is acknowledging what it really should be: a safety net for those with less.

FORBES: Fixing The Nagging Problem Of Social Security -- Part 2

Given the parlous state of urban China's social-security system, peasants would continue to regard land as a vital safety net, to be relinquished only in extreme circumstances.

ECONOMIST: But only for a select few