FACT: There were no weapons of mass destruction
FACT: There is no crisis in Social Security
Once again, the Bush Administration is using deceit and outright lies to manipulate popular support for a bad cause. This time it’s a domestic program that provides financial protection for millions of senior citizens.
Our Social Security system is the most popular, most effective personal program in United States history. It has never missed a payment in 70 years. With no changes at all, it will continue to pay benefits for at least the next 45 years. Even after that, it will be able to pay 80% of benefits, if absolutely nothing is changed with the current calculation formulas.
President Bush is again asking young Americans to risk. With his war plan he asked Americans to lay their lives on the line. With his privatization plan for Social Security, he is again asking young Americans to risk-this time their future retirement lives.
Privatization is a big gamble. In addition to costing more than a trillion dollars just to set it up, it will have not one guarantee of scheduled payments for future retirees. It will be at mercy of a fickle stock market. Additionally, the set up costs would create a huge financial drain on the Social Security Trust Fund; thereby, severely jeopardizing payments to current retirees.
The Alliance for Retired Americans estimates that Social Security payments account for 38% of the total income for the 47 million retired Americans now receiving benefits. For 20% of America’s seniors Social Security is their sole source of income. This is too critical a benefit. It cannot and should not be gambled with.
There are many ways to make Social Security healthier without demolishing it in favor of privatization. The most simple fix is to abolish the $90,000 salary cap and require every working American to pay into Social Security 52 weeks a year. That would keep it solvent for at least another 85 years. The Bush Administration nixed that plan because they claim it would impose an additional tax, even though it would be only on those earning over $90,000 a year. There’s that cronyism again.
There’s an old saying that points out that “if you fool me once, shame on you;
if you fool me twice, shame on me.” We were duped on the war in Iraq. Let’s not let it happen again with our retirements.
Maria C. Cordone
Director, Retirees Department
International Association of Machinists
Aerospace Workers
