ACTION ALERT
Privatization of Social Security
Once again the Administration is calling for privatization of Social Security
as one of its top priorities. OWL co-chairs the Income Security Committee of
the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) which produced the letter
below, signed by 27 leading aging organizations, that was hand delivered to
President Bush. OWL, once again, is leading the way in calling for an honest,
open and transparent process as he pushes his agenda forward.
Let your members of Congress know that Social Security privatization-in any
form-is a false promise for women.
Demand that your Members of Congress promise you that:
*They will oppose privatizing Social Security in any way.
*They will oppose any law that funnels Social Security dollars through Wall
Street.
*They will oppose any law that cuts guaranteed benefits, increases the retirement
age, and/or adds debt onto the backs of young people and future generations.
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The following is a copy of a letter sent to President Bush, by OWL and 26 other organizations listed at the end:
December 16, 2004
The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President:
The undersigned members of the Leadership Council of Aging Organizations (LCAO) strongly believe that Social Security is the cornerstone of income security for retirees, survivors, disabled workers and their families in this nation and we are committed to ensuring its future. Because you have identified creating private accounts financed with Social Security funds as one of your top priorities, we urge your Administration to provide the American public with specific, transparent and comprehensive information about what effect those accounts would have on Social Security's long-term solvency; on Social Security's benefits, including benefits for survivors and disabled workers; and on the short and long term impact on the federal budget and the federal debt.
While increased longevity does present challenges, Social Security is not in crisis. With modest adjustments, Social Security will continue to provide our children and grandchildren with the same secure, life-long, inflation-protected foundation of retirement security.
As a nation, we should focus on how best to strengthen Social Security. The American public deserves a full national discussion with all the ideas on the table. LCAO believes we should reject costly plans that replace guaranteed benefits with additional risk on workers and their families. Personal accounts financed out of Social Security are not a solvency option. Transferring money away from Social Security into individual accounts worsens solvency and necessitates greater changes than would otherwise be needed to ensure long-term solvency. Financing private accounts will require trillions of dollars in tax increases, cuts to Social Security benefits, new government debt or substantial reductions in other government spending.
How these accounts would be paid for-- especially in light of sizeable and ongoing federal deficits-is a critical issue. Any accounting that disguises the costs of such partial privatization is unfair to the American public. It is particularly unfair to ask our children and grandchildren to pay twice to establish private accounts.
We, the undersigned organizations, urge a full accounting of the costs of partial privatization and how those costs would be met.
(Signed by 27 organizations including AARP, OWL, Gray Panthers, NARFE and B'nai B'rith International)
AARP, AFSCME Retiree Program, Alliance for Retired Americans, American Association
for International Aging, American Association of Homes and Services for the
Aging, American Federation of Teachers Program on Retirement and Retirees, American
Foundation for the Blind, American Geriatrics Society, Asociacion Nacional Pro
Personas Mayores, Association for Gerontology and Human Development in Historically
Black Colleges and Universities, B'nai B'rith International, Eldercare America,
Inc., Families USA, Gray Panthers, National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys,
National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers, National Association
of Retired and Senior Volunteer Program Directors, Inc., National Association
of Retired Federal Employees, National Association of Senior Companion Project
Directors, National Association of Social Workers, National Caucus and Center
on Black Aged, Inc., National Citizens' Coalition for Nursing Home Reform, National
Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, National Hispanic Council
on Aging, National Senior Citizens Law Center, OWL, the voice of midlife and
older women, Service Employees International Union Retired Members Program
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