Poverty and Income Assistance

What is so irritating to this Social Security taxpayer is that l have, in effect, overpaid my Social Security contributions since 1983 in order to build up the trust fund. The President insults me and other contributors by implying that the funds are tied up in worthless Treasury bonds, or lOUs. That's not what we were told when asked to dig deeper into our pockets. Moreover, if the objective of Bush's remarks is to prepare the way for a default on these Treasury securities, one wonders if he knows what he will do to the bond market and the pension funds that hold Treasury bonds: he is campaigning to discredit any Treasury bonds (and any corporate bonds, since they constitute lOUs, too).

We need a simple, easily articulated solution to the Social Security crisis. Let there be no doubt that there is a crisis. Some people have suggested that the solvency problem is not as serious as others claim. That may be true, but the President is currently traveling around the country telling the American public that there is a serious problem. That in itself is a crisis.

Because of the nature of the crisis, it can only be resolved by a solution that is relatively simple and can be easily explained to the public. It is also essential that it be a positive approach. It is not enough to show what others are doing wrong or should not do in the future. This crisis can only be solved by a positive program of what can be done.

I wish to build on ideas from other members:

• Social Security is not in crisis today
• Solutions are available that build on the current system and do not require radical change
• Social Security policy should be considered in the context of the total retirements picture (and three legged stool)

This is a critical time for the retirement security of Americans as Social Security is under attack at the same time that employer plans have declined and are suffering from an adverse regulatory climate. The decisions that policymakers make today will be important for decades to come.

Jośe Piñera, former minister of labor under Pinochet and the “father” of pension privatization in Chile, as well as a promoter of that approach throughout the world, has recently discussed his conversations with and encouragement to President Bush to apply the Chilean prescription to cure U.S. social security ills (New York Times, December 1, 2004, A81).

I am concerned that we are focused on only one of the 3 legs of the proverbial retirement security stool, namely, the Social Security leg, when the other two legs are even more wobbly. Consider the erosion of employer-sponsored retirement plans, the wobbliness of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the lack of individual retirement savings. Time for a little broader perspective.

Moreover, we need to have a discussion on what the implications are for SSDI, the risk of cost-shifting to the SSI program, and new burdens on the states for the SSI and Medicaid programs. All of this becomes part of the mix.