thanks so much to nasi for hosting this event. it's a really important and interesting study.i'll too start with kind of talking about how important social security is to the overall country, economy, budget. clearly, it does so much to lift millions of people out of poverty. it is more than just a retirement program in that it helps with disability, it helps with dependents, plays a very critical role. i think one of the most important things about it and jason alluded to this is it's an annuity form. it protects people against outliving their retirement benefits and we don't really have that in other areas of our retirement. really, really important.cv÷ it's also the federal budget's largest program, so while it is separate from the rest of the budget and has kind of a unique separate status, it has a big effect on the rest of the budget. the survey, i think this is going to end up being kind of a singing the praises of trade-off analysis because i think the survey is really important. one, it focuses on the right questions. it focuses on how we would fix social security g

and that's why i'm so grateful for nasi's continued work on all of the aspects of social insurance and all of them fit together. your efforts have helped improve our understanding and the public's understanding of this critical program, helping ensure all americans have a secure and dignified retirement and protection against some of life's most important risks. social security will convey direct benefits totaling $863 billion to 58 million americans in 2014. almost 90% of the population aged 65 and older receives benefits. those payments make up an average of 38% of income for people over age 65. social security provides greater benefits to the most vulnerable workers. it replaces a larger share of a work worker's previous earnings at lower earnings level. 14 million retirees would fall into poverty without social security. without social security benefits, the poverty rate for americans age 65 would increase from less than 10% to over 40%. as retirees draw down their savings and stop working completely at older ages, social security becomes even more important as a source of income.

india has signed on coming in need -- indonesian nasi mounts about korea australia japan and the unitedtates have not signed on to this bank. i can talk more about that but that's going to be working around the aipac core doors. it works now. okay. just to dg 20 and skipping so the trip chronologically where escaping from the aipac meeting in china to the g20 meeting in brisbane australia which will be held november 15 and 16th in brisbane as i said. again a quick background. this is the ninth summit of the g20 liters since the first, then washington in november of 2008. it's actually, the g20 is actually achieve 49. i counted last night. it's actually 19 individual countries plus the european union which brings another 28 minus four e.u. states that have their almonds dates plus six invited guests and those invited guests are spaying singapore myanmar is the chair of asean mauritania as they chair of the e.u. and senegal as the chair of the new economic partnership for african development and for a reason not entirely obvious other than solidarity new zealand will also be there this ye

so, the objectives we had in working with nasi were to understand the preferred package of social security benefits where there are a couple hundred different possibilities. make sure that each of the costs was savings of each feature is taking into account when determining a preference. of course, people want more -- higher benefits, but are they willing to pay for it? and if you're interested in closing the financing gap, which survey indicates people are, how do you go about doing it? also if you're looking at different features and trying to make the trade-off decisions, what is the value of each feature? some features have the benefit, quote/unquote, of closing the financing gap. others increase the financing gap. what is the reaction to each one? understanding that the goal is to get the best package. that's where we're interested, the best package at the best price. what do americans prefer? this is what we did. elisa reviewed it. i want to say it again. we tested 12 specific changes or features. some cost more. some cost less. each respondent saw ten questions. each question they w