From: Rob Crowther Economic Security 2000 <robcr@discovery.org>
Subject: RE: The value of not trading security for poverty
It's true that Social Security has done more than any other program to help raise Seniors out of poverty and to a more dignified retirement. While the pay-as-you-go system has worked in this respect, it is falling prey to the changing demographics of the country, and it is idiocy to ignore these changes and to assume that predictions are "extremely pessimistic." The fact is that SS is going to run out of workers to pay for retirees benefits. We know how many retirees we're going to have, they're in the workforce right now. We know how many up and coming workers will have in the future as well. These aren't predictions, they're known quantities. Reagardless of the growth of the economy, in the future the SS system will not be able to sustain itself.
The only answer is to change it to a fully funded system, wherein retirees will be guarenteed a dignified and adequate retirement security. Under plans such as Kolbe-Stenholm there is no "giving up the guarentee for a gamble." There is no gamble, the safety net is not taken away. The gamble is to do nothing, remain under the current system and just wait for it to go broke.
If we're going to continue to keep Seniors out of poverty we have to reform the SS system now. We can't wait any longer.
