Walz praises Social Security as 75th anniversary approaches
Friday, August 13, 2010 at 10:00 am
- 2 Comments
As the 75th anniversary of Social Security approaches this weekend, Rep. Tim Walz shared his personal story about how the program kept his family out of poverty. Walz’ father died when he was a teenager and his mother depended on survivor benefits to keep the family afloat. Saturday will mark 75 years since the program was signed into law.
“My little brother was eight and my mother was a stay-at-home mother,” Walz said in a statement on Friday. “Social Security survivor benefits allowed her to get back into the workforce, and my little brother to finish his education. I hear a lot of talk about you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps. Well, we did, we simply didn’t have the boots — those came to us by Social Security and what my father paid in over all those years.”
Walz said he will oppose efforts to privatize the program.
“It’s been the greatest anti-poverty program probably the world has ever seen,” he said. “It’s remained strong for 75 years, over half our seniors depend on the bulk of their income for it, and it continues to provide quality of life enhancements for individuals and our society.”
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Comment posted August 14, 2010 @ 8:42 am
“Walz said he will oppose efforts to privatize the program.”
Ensuring the program will be broke when today’s young people are ready to retire. Good thinking there, Tim.
Comment posted August 15, 2010 @ 11:55 am
http://pol.moveon.org/ssmyths/index.html?rc=homepage
Top 5 Social Security Myths
Myth #1: Social Security is going broke.
Reality: There is no Social Security crisis. By 2023, Social Security will have a $4.6 trillion surplus (yes, trillion with a ‘T’). It can pay out all scheduled benefits for the next quarter-century with no changes whatsoever. After 2037, it’ll still be able to pay out 75% of scheduled benefits—and again, that’s without any changes. The program started preparing for the Baby Boomers’ retirement decades ago. Anyone who insists Social Security is broke probably wants to break it themselves.
Myth #2: We have to raise the retirement age because people are living longer.
Reality: This is a red-herring to trick you into agreeing to benefit cuts. Retirees are living about the same amount of time as they were in the 1930s. The reason average life expectancy is higher is mostly because many fewer people die as children than they did 70 years ago. What’s more, what gains there have been are distributed very unevenly—since 1972, life expectancy increased by 6.5 years for workers in the top half of the income brackets, but by less than 2 years for those in the bottom half. But those intent on cutting Social Security love this argument because raising the retirement age is the same as an across-the-board benefit cut.
Myth #3: Benefit cuts are the only way to fix Social Security.
Reality: Social Security doesn’t need to be fixed. But if we want to strengthen it, here’s a better way: Make the rich pay their fair share. If the very rich paid taxes on all of their income, Social Security would be sustainable for decades to come. Right now, high earners only pay Social Security taxes on the first $106,000 of their income. But conservatives insist benefit cuts are the only way because they want to protect the super-rich from paying their fair share.
Myth #4: The Social Security Trust Fund has been raided and is full of IOUs
Reality: Not even close to true. The Social Security Trust Fund isn’t full of IOUs, it’s full of U.S. Treasury Bonds. And those bonds are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. The reason Social Security holds only treasury bonds is the same reason many Americans do: The federal government has never missed a single interest payment on its debts. President Bush wanted to put Social Security funds in the stock market—which would have been disastrous—but luckily, he failed. So the trillions of dollars in the Social Security Trust Fund, which are separate from the regular budget, are as safe as can be.
Myth #5: Social Security adds to the deficit
Reality: It’s not just wrong—it’s impossible! By law, Social Security’s funds are separate from the budget, and it must pay its own way. That means that Social Security can’t add one penny to the deficit.
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