Re: DAILY SUMMARY April 19-20

[Javier Jimenez <jimenj@yahoo.com>]

There is no indication that, when instituted, SS "is a SOCIAL
program, which I take to mean that those most in need get the
lion's share of the payout" in the 1936 propaganda pamphlet on
Social Security.  The pamphlet spells out the blueprint for an
annuity contract between the government and workers, where
benefits were directly tied to income and work.  Of
course, at the time the framers of this program didn't think
people would live long enough to collect their "pensions", but
clearly, the intent was a program that would pay benefits to
workers who contributed over their life, nothing more, nothing
less. (here is the link to the pamphlet http://199.173.224.3/history/ssb36.html)

>As Chief Actuary of the Social Security Administration in 1947-70
>and Deputy Commissioner of Social Security in 1981-82, I have very
>strongly held views about the value of the Social Security program
>to persons in this country. Our Judeao-Christian culture proscribes
>that we should love our neighbors as ourselves and should take care
>of our brothers and sisters. The Social Security program is a most
>important way that we can do this in a broad manner, as well as
>very efficiently. This does not mean that this program should
>attempt to do everything for everybody, but rather ample room should
>be left for individual responsibility and effort. Thus, good balance
>is needed, and the Social Security program should be a good floor
>of economic protection and be universally applicable, not merely
>a safety net available only for the few persons who may be in dire
>need.

Religious traditions used to justify the existance of a failed
program is hypocritical at best.  Why not, then, oppose abortions?
After all, they are against all Judeao-Christian traditions.  What
about non-Judeao-Christian do we force them "our" traditions just
because we think they are the "right" traditions.
Liberals want it both ways, call pro-lifers the right wing fanatics
because they use their religious traditions to oppose the practice,
but on the other hand, use a religious argument to justify welfare
and a failed system.
Social Security is a failed system because its promise as a social
contract with workers for retirement has been broken time and time
again by power hungry politicians, illegaly extended and abused.  To
say that only because of SS high rate poverty among the elderly has
been prevented is more propaganda geared towards more justification
of the same.  No-one on my side of the issue, Privatization, is
intending to leave workers without guaranteed retirement income; the
approach we take is more honest because it relies on the individual
not on religious traditions that may be associated with one specific
group of people.