George W. is ready to use his sledge hammer to destroy Social Security when only a little tweak will do.
He says, repeatedly, that this super program is in a crisis and we must act now to save it.
Whoa, Nellie. This is how he sold us on the need to attack Iraq. Remember the warnings about how Saddam was going to unleash his weapons of mass destruction on us at any time. Many of us could visualize a mushroom cloud.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane. Social Security is now 70 years old. It was born in the Great Depression after the stock market crash. Today seniors retire in dignity drawing their monthly checks, which are guaranteed, indexed for inflation, and can’t be outlived.
Social Security is not only a great pension program, it is also a mammoth disability insurance policy which protects families from the untimely injury of the bread winner. It also provides for the widow and child survivors under 18 if the worker dies prematurely. All this with administrative costs less than one percent of benefits. No plan, public or private, can match it.
Where is the crisis George W. is try to sell? Using conservative growth estimates by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, Social Security will be solvent until mid-century when it still will be able to pay 75 percent of benefits. That’s not a crisis. That is an endorsement.
A little tweaking will make it solvent for the rest of the 21st century. Put your sledge hammer away George. Consider these modest steps:
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Make the wealth contribute more. They pay nothing on incomes above $88,000. Raise the cap to $120,000.
• Keep the tax on estates above $3.5 million and dedicate the proceeds to Social Security.
• Bring state and local government employees into the program.
• Adjust the formula for cost-of-living increases.
It was the stock market crash that sowed the seeds for Social Security in the 30’s. Seventy years later George W. wants to enrich his Wall Street buddies by exposing trillions of Social Security dollars to the vicissitudes of the same market. With scare tactics, George W. will try to entice young workers to put 30 percent (2 percent of 6.2 percent) of their Social Security contribution into these private accounts.
Since Social Security is a pay-as-you-go program, this money, some $2 trillion, will have to be replaced or else current retirees will face reductions. Where does George W. intend to get this money. He’ll get it the same way he gets his Iraq money, by borrowing it. Pain must be avoided at all costs but massive deficits don’t faze him.
Keep your hands off our Social Security George. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Mr. Hays invites your comments.
Letters to the Editor are invited
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