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William G. Shipman
Fourteen years ago Bill Shipman invited 25 people to Boston to discuss an issue most
participants had rarely considered, Social Security. The participants were responsible for
the retirement plans of the largest corporations and state pension funds in America. The
four-hour session was led by the Commissioner of Social Security who served under
Presidents Reagan and Bush (41).
The next year, 1994, the Commissioner asked Shipman to testify to Congress and offer
his views on Social Security. In October Shipman testified that the Social Security
system, however compassionate in intent, was fundamentally flawed in design and
financially unsustainable. He suggested that the country consider reforming the system
from a tax-based to a market-based structure wherein individuals save and invest for their
retirement needs.
Shipman’s comments were observed by the Cato Institute, one of Washington’s
prominent think tanks. The following year Cato requested that he write a paper to be
published by Cato and asked him to be the co-chairman of Cato’s Project on Social
Security Choice.
In 1996 Shipman co-authored “Promises to Keep: Saving Social Security’s Dream”
which was modeled after his 1994 testimony. The importance of “Promises” is that it
was written by two people from the financial services industry, the industry that would
play a pivotal role in Social Security’s fundamental reform.
Within a couple of years there was another meeting, much smaller, just a handful people.
They discussed reforming Social Security along the lines of a defined contribution plan
with personal property rights. This was an important gathering because one of the
participants moved on and became the President of the United States.
When then Governor Bush campaigned for the presidency he promoted Social Security
reform. This was unusual. Most politicians avoided the subject for the political risks
were considered too high. Bush saw it differently. He promised that if elected, he would
appoint a commission to provide answers for reform, and he did.
In the mid-term elections of 2002, all candidates for both the Senate and House who ran
on Social Security reform won. This outcome was some evidence that from a political
point of view Social Security reform was no longer a losing issue.
During the 2004 campaign President Bush again ran on Social Security reform as did
more candidates for Congress. All prevailed except for one Senate candidate.
In his State of the Union Address in January, 2005 President Bush devoted about twenty
percent of his speech to Social Security. Providing this amount of time for a single
domestic policy issue was unusual, perhaps unprecedented. He then went on the road to
sell his idea.
In his 2006 State of the Union Address the president devoted only eight sentences to
Social Security, two of them suggesting a new commission to study Social Security’s
future. The political oxygen so necessary for reform went elsewhere.
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The lessons learned over these thirteen years are numerous: political, economic, financial
and cultural. The United States Social Security system is the largest government program
in the world, affects all Americans, and under today’s law will not be able to provide
promised retirement benefits. If not reformed, it may cripple our economy. We are not
alone. About 130 countries have systems much like ours and all of them face the same
challenges. This is a global problem and one that is unprecedented. But there is a
solution, which if adopted, will provide opportunities as unprecedented as the problem
itself.
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William G. Shipman is chairman of CarriageOaks Partners LLC a Massachusettsbased consulting firm specializing in retirement finance. An advocate of Social Security
reform in the United States, Mr. Shipman has testified before the House Ways and Means
Sub-Committee on Social Security and co-authored Promises to Keep: Saving Social
Security’s Dream. He is Co-Chairman of the Cato Project on Social Security Choice, and
was on the National Advisory Board of “Americans Discuss Social Security,” a nonprofit organization funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts to generate informed debate on
the issue. He also served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Social
Security. His research has been published by the Financial Analysts Journal, The
Journal of Investing, the National Center for Policy Analysis, The Heritage Foundation
and the Cato Institute, as well as numerous other publications, and was named one of its
outstanding papers by The Journal of Investing.
Mr. Shipman has discussed and debated public policy issues before the United Nations
and both the Joint Economic Committee and House Budget Committee Task Force on
Social Security of the United States Congress, as well as the Australian Parliament. He
has given well over 300 speeches across six continents and twenty-one countries and has
consulted on retirement finance reform with government officials from Australia, China,
Poland, the United States and Russia as well as the European Commission. United States
Senator Sam Brownback named Shipman his Special Advisor on Social Security reform
for the Brownback for President campaign. He was invited by the government of the
Russian Federation to be a member of its Supervisory Council for the Institute for Social
Insurance Development. And the Ministry of Labour and Social Security of the People’s
Republic of China invited him to be a visiting professor at the Ministry’s Social
Insurance Institute. The government of China has also published Promises to Keep in
Chinese.
Prior to establishing CarriageOaks, Mr. Shipman spent more than 30 years in institutional
financial research, consulting and investment management. He was a principal of State
Street Global Advisors, a Trustee of the SSgA Funds, a founding partner of H. C.
Wainwright Co., Economics, and a general partner of H.C. Wainwright & Co. He serves
on the Board of Directors of The Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation,
Washington, DC. Mr. Shipman received his degree in psychology from Syracuse
University. A student of the martial arts, Mr. Shipman holds a 3rd degree black belt in
Kempo Karate.
Books
Promises to Keep: Saving Social Security’s Dream. (co-authored with Marshall N.
Carter) Washington, DC: Regnery Publishing, Inc., 1996; New introduction to Promises
to Keep: Saving Social Security’s Dream for publication in Peoples Republic of China,
2002
Testimony Before The United States Congress
Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means, June,
2005
House Budget Committee Task Force on Social Security, April, 1999
Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on Ways and Means, October,
1994
Joint Economic Committee of Congress, June, 1983
Papers
”Social Security Reform: A Lasting Solution and an Unprecedented Opportunity,” The
Brownback for President Campaign, March, 2007
“The History and Future of Social Security,” Indianapolis, IN, Networks Financial
Institute, November, 2005
“Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Social Security of the House Committee on
Ways and Means,” Washington, DC, June, 2005
“Retirement Finance Reform Issues Facing the European Union,” Washington, DC:
Cato Institute, January, 2003
“Reforming Social Security: A Change in the Climate of Opinion,” Waltham, MA, The
Rosenberg Institute of Global Finance, Brandeis University, Graduate School of
International Economics and Finance, October, 2002
“Financial Restructuring: Which Debt, How much, and the Range of Choice,” Gotemba,
Japan, Harvard Law School: Program on International Financial Systems,
September, 2001
“Is the Stock Market Too Risky for Retirement?,” Dallas, TX, National Center for Policy
Analysis, June, 2001
“Administrative Challenges Confronting Social Security Reform,” Boston, MA, State
Street Corporation, March, 1999
“Facts and Fantasies about Transition Costs,” Washington, DC: Cato Institute,
October, 1998
“Common Objections to a Market-Based Social Security System: A Response,”
Washington, DC: Cato Institute, July, 1997 (with Melissa Hieger)
“Retiring with Dignity: Social Security vs. Private Markets,” Washington, DC: Cato
Institute, August, 1995
“Testimony of William Gordon Shipman Before the House Ways and Means
Subcommittee on Social Security,” Washington, DC, October, 1994
“The 1983 and 1984 Recovery: Two of the Best Years Since the Korean War Period,”
Hearings before the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States,
First Session, Washington, DC, June, 1983
“Institutional Buying Power and the Stock Market,” Financial Analysts Journal,
September-October, 1981 (with R. David Ranson)
Commentary and Op-Eds
“Expanding the Agenda,” The Washington Times, March, 2007
“Monkeys, Elephants, and Statesmen,” The Washington Times, March, 2007
“Retirement Trendsetter,” The Washington Times, November, 2006
“Retiring with Dignity,” The Washington Times, October, 2006
“He’s Not Nuts,” The American Spectator, July, 2006
“Paulson’s Possible Prosperity,” The Washington Times, June, 2006
“Slippery Social Security Slope,” The Washington Times, March, 2006
“Social Security Assets Are Best Left in Hands of An All-Knowing Gov’t,” Investor’s
Business Daily, November, 2005
“Merely Tinkering Will Trap Workers Inside the Box,” The Hill, June, 2005
“No Half-Way Measures,” The Boston Globe, February, 2005
“How Reform Could Work,” Pensions & Investments, February, 2005
“Benefits of Social Security Reform Far Outweigh the Transition Cost,” Investor’s
Business Daily, October, 2004
“Freedom of Choice: What Social Security Really Gets Down To,” Investor’s Business
Daily, May, 2004
“Defining the Big Issue,” The Washington Times, May, 2004
“Independent Accounts,” The Washington Times, January, 2004
“Overhauling Social Security: Much of the Work is Done,” Investor’s Business Daily,
November, 2003
“ ‘Old Europe’ and Getting Older,” The Washington Times, May, 2003
“Social Security Reform: Managing Administrative Costs and Market Risk,”
PlanSponsor, July, 2002
“Retirement Finance Reform: Moral Hazard and Investment Choice,” Journal of
Investing, Summer, 2002
“Keeping Social Security Promises,” The Washington Times, June,2002
“Social Security Must Be Reformed,” The Fox News Channel, May, 2002
“Additional Views of the Commission on Global Aging,” Washington, DC, The Center
for Strategic and International Studies, March, 2002
“Assessing Risk and Social Security,” The Washington Times, January, 2002
“Russia Enters Center Stage on Global Pension Reform,” Moscow, Russia: Institute for
the Economy in Transition, December, 2000
“Why Congress Will Privatize Social Security,” Boston Business Journal, June, 1996
“Combined Models Basis for Strategies,” Pensions & Investments, September, 1991
“Getting a Jump on Stocks: Credit Market Offers Insight Into Future Equity Activity,”
Pension & Investments, June, 1990
Government Consulting and Advisory
Peoples Republic of China
Russian Federation
United States
European Commission
Speeches
Over 300 speeches across six continents and 21 countries. Brief list of sponsors:
Commonfund Institute
Fidelity
Lincoln Financial
Georgia Pacific
Manulife
United Nations, Geneva, Switzerland and New York
National Investment Company Service Association
Brandeis University
New England Pension Consultants
Callan Associates
United States Senator Chuck Grassley
Friedrich Naumann Foundation
Columbia University
T.D. Waterhouse
Hood Hargett
Financial Services Forum
State Street Corporation
Zurich Insurance Company, Zurich, Switzerland
LifeTime Choice, Inc.
Susquehanna University, Sigmund Weis School of Business
Cato Institute
Institutional Investor
Prudential Financial
Tennessee Conference on Social Security Reform
U.S. Pension Reform, Taipei, Taiwan
Heritage Foundation
Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Beijing, Peoples Republic of China
Harvard Law School, Program on International Financial Systems
Russell 20-20
The International House of Japan, Gotemba, Japan
Institute for the Economy in Transition, Moscow, Russian Federation
Texas Public Employee Retirement System
Indiana State University
Administrative Officers Association, State of Michigan
Center for Strategic and International Studies
Tower Square Securities
USA Investment Funds Forum, Luxembourg
Drew University
United States Chamber of Commerce
Networks Financial Institute
Genworth
William G. Shipman
Chairman
CarriageOaks Partners LLC
P.O. Box 371
Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA 01944
Phone: (978) 740-1800
Fax: (978) 336-1294
E-mail: [email protected]