  |
| |
|
Privatization would hurt social security January 20, 2005 TAKE ACTION: NYSUT members are using the Web to convince Congress to save Social Security When the issue of privatizing Social Security comes up, Florence Wood's thoughts turn to her daughter. "She's a California teacher and she makes a small salary and is accruing a small pension," said Wood. "Social Security is going to be important to her in later years." President Bush's privatization plan, Wood fears, could gut Social Security, driving workers like her daughter into an impoverished retirement. "Women historically earn less and live longer," said Wood, president of the Whitesboro Retired Teachers Association, near Utica . Under a privatized system, workers would only get out what they put in, unlike the current progressive Social Security formula that provides guaranteed and proportionally higher benefits to lower earners. "Additionally, what about people who become handicapped and need disability income, currently provided by Social Security?" she said. Those concerns spurred Wood to travel to Albany to learn more about the privatization proposal that is high on the president's agenda. The meeting at New York State United Teachers headquarters included members of the New York State Social Security Coalition, and was sponsored by the state Alliance for Retired Americans and the Fiscal Policy Institute. "The system isn't in crisis but this privatization proposal could push it into crisis," said Rich Fiesta of the national ARA. "Social Security can currently pay full benefits through 2042, but privatization will draw money out of the system, making benefits payable only through 2020 or 2021." More troubling, said Trudi Renwick, an economist with the Fiscal Policy Institute in Albany , is that privatization will leave many workers at the mercy of the unpredictable stock market. "If individuals pick investments poorly, they could lose their retirement." And since New York state has a constitutional obligation to provide for its poor, shouldering the care of citizens ill prepared for retirement would fall in the state's lap, driving up annual budgets. "We have a special reason to be concerned about the privatization proposal," she continued. "Social Security was meant as a guaranteed income for retirees, the disabled and surviving dependents," said Jerry Lotierzo, a Liverpool retiree who chairs the Central New York Alliance for Retired Americans along with Doug Matousek from North Syracuse . "That income is not supposed to be based on the vagaries of the stock market." "We need to educate members about the dangers of this issue and then work to build coalitions," said Lotierzo. "Privatization is being marketed as a way for young people to take control of their retirement benefits, but we've got to get the message out that privatization will hurt them," said NYSUT Executive Vice President Alan Lubin. "President Bush plans to take away the guaranteed income benefit and the Cost of Living Adjustment." — Kara E. Smith |
SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY: NYSUT members are using the Web to contact Congress
|
| | |