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June 12th, 2006FREE SNICKERS!
June 12th 10:54:59 AM
Very enticing, yeah?? Well, students at Portland State had the chance to play a fairly easy came the other day. Its called "Stand at the Line and Get the balls in the laundry basket and you will win a SNICKERS!!" - As i'm sure you can gather from the name, this game is fairly complex and difficult. Many students won! They were drawn in because they saw full size snickers bars: but when they got the balls into the bucket, they would receive a little tiny mini snickers bar. And that REALLY torqued their wrench- they would yell, "WHAT?!?!". Some would even try to take down the ostrich - thats just crossing the line!
I said, "Sorry, but the game is just modeled after our current social security system and if you don't like it and agree its unfair, then help out our cause - send a screw to your senators. Tell Senator Smith and Wyden, "I'm getting Screwed by Social Security! Secure our future!"
Bet you never thought we could tie Snickers bars into Social Security reform, eh? Well - when you're dealing with such an absurd social security system, its not hard to find things to help demonstrate those basic concepts of unfairness.
If you want to play the "Stand at the line and get the balls into the laundry basket and you will win a SNICKERS!" game, or bring it to your school to help tell others about the need for reform, let me know and I can hook you up with some materials!
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (0)
June 11th, 2006Sending Screws to our Senators
June 11th 05:19:37 PM
Students at Portland State had an opportunity to send screws to their senators because they are getting screwed on the issue of Social Security reform! Check out the pictures in our gallery...it was a great turnout despite the afternoon rainfall (welcome to Oregon where it rains approx 366 days a year!! j/k) but following the "We're getting screwed" "We're getting FICA'd" "Check your Assets!" "Stop the raid!" tabling experience out in the park blocks, students (of age!!) were invited to come to the beer garden, where we told congress to drain the keg, not the social security trust fund! Many students were a fan of that...esp since they could help w/ the "draining" aspect of things!! This is what was plastered on all the cups and on the walls inside the area: Check out all the pictures! and let us know if this is something you would be interested in doing at your school!
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (0)
June 07th, 2006McCrery Calls for SS Reform
June 07th 01:16:46 PM
In a recent Congress Daily piece by Martin Vaughan, Congressman Jim McCrery is quoted as saying Congress should make Social Security reform its top priority next year.
"Looking at the lay of the land politically and substantively, it seems to me the more logical order would be Social Security, then tax reform, then healthcare reform," McCrery told reporters after addressing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Congressman McCrery sees the pressing need for reform. McCrery has been a long-time advocate of Social Security reform.
With the current chairman stepping down, Jim McCrery is the leading contender to chair the House Ways and Means Committee in the next Congress.
It is time for Congress to stop its partisan parlor games and once again take up the issue of Social Security reform. Each year we delay reform, it is costs taxpayers $600 billion. Whether you support personal accounts or not, there's no denying the problem gets much worse the longer we delay action.
Posted by Zack Stiefler| Comments (0)
June 06th, 2006Some more AARP hypocrisy...
June 06th 09:27:56 AM
At the 35th Pennsylvania Homecare Association Conference last Tuesday, AARP’s CEO Bill Novelli stated that the current Social Security is the best pension plan for Americans.
“It is a risk-free guaranteed pension,” Novelli claimed, repeatedly referring to it as a “safety net.”
However, Novelli has his facts wrong. Social Security is NOT guaranteed, and the American government is NOT entitled to give us any of the money it takes in the name of Social Security.
Furthermore, unless something is done, Social Security will start spending more than it takes in by 2017 and will be bankrupt by 2041. Novelli admitted that Social obligated needed reform, yet said that investing in private accounts would be too risky.
Later, however, in the same speech, Novelli encouraged investment in 401(k) plans – plans that invest in bonds and mutual funds.
After this flip-flopping of positions, the question I have for Bill Novelli is, “Why all the hypocrisy?"
Posted by Zack Stiefler| Comments (0)
June 05th, 2006Paulson nominated as Secretary of the Treasury
June 05th 05:11:56 PM
Last Tuesday, President Bush nominated Henry Paulson as the next Secretary of the Treasury. Paulson will succeed John Snow, who has been a great friend of the Social Security reform movement, as well as of S4.
Paulson, who is leaving his position as CEO of Goldman Sachs, was described by the President as having “a lifetime of business experience; he has an intimate knowledge of financial markets and an ability to explain economic issues in clear terms.” Hopefully, this knowledge will be put to good use in continuing the reform-minded work of his predecessor.
Paulson has also had previous government experience working at both the White House and the Pentagon. This, combined with his impressive track record in the private sector, make it very clear that he is well prepared to help set the fiscal policies of the world's largest economy. Even the New York Times cannot deny that Paulson is a strong choice, stating that Paulson “may be just the person to buy America some time to get back on track.”
Actually, we cannot simply “buy some time.” That is precisely what got us into this mess: focusing on delaying the inevitable failure of Social Security to protect our generation through tax hikes and raising the retirement age. Someone with capabilities as great as Mr. Paulson will clearly have the vision to realize the need for reform right now!
We have only 10 years before the Social Security system goes bankrupt. A businessman as keen as Paulson will surely realize that one cannot wait until being bankrupt to suddenly start caring. I am sure that Paulson is the perfect choice to renew the campaign to save Social Security, and I hope that the confirmation process goes smoothly.
Posted by Jo Jensen| Comments (0)
June 01st, 2006Lies, Downright Confusion or Statistics?
June 01st 04:52:00 PM
The Institute for Women's Policy Research released a Social Security Alert today that is filled with statistical mistakes.
The release states:
The 2006 report...projects Social Security will start redeeming trust fund bonds in 2026 in order to pay full benefits...
Clearly the authors of the release did not read the Trustees Report very closely. As page 2 explicitly states:
Annual cost will exceed tax income starting in 2017 at which time the annual gap will be covered with cash from net redemptions of special obligations of the Treasury...
Pages 3, 8, 16 42, 43, 50, 164, 165, 171, 181 and the official press release of the SSA all also cite 2017 as the year deficits begin and bonds must start being redeemed.
This makes it worth asking where the 2026 figure came from, and the answer reveals further errors in the release.
For one, the authors appear to be confusing interest payments with bond repayments. When the system beings running deficits, bonds must be redeemed to pay full benefits. However, all bonds will not be cashed in all at once; those that aren't will continue to earn interest. But it is a mistake to think that because interest is being credited to the Trust Fund from some bonds that other bonds are not being paid back simultaneously.
For another, the authors seem to have completely mistaken analysis. Later in the release, they state solvency could be achieved with a 2.02% raise payroll tax increase. But as the Concord Coalition points out this isn't a fix, it's a delay.
Even if taxes were raised by 2.02% of payroll to eliminate the actuarial deficit over seventy-five years, the system would begin to run annual cash deficits again in 2026.
This may explain where IWPR pulled the erroneous 2026 figure about the year of bond redemption, but it certainly doesn't excuse their mistakes.
Posted by Nicola Moore| Comments (0)
May 31st, 2006Britain's New Pension Plan
May 31st 01:08:29 PM
This week, Britain’s Pension Commission, set up by Britain’s government under the leadership of Adair Turner, published its Pensions White Paper, which represents a strong, rational plan to rebuild Britain’s pension system.
The White Paper offers three main recommendations that seem to have been met with general cross-party approval:
- A gradual rise of the pension age from 65 to 68 over a 40-year period.
- A pension which rises with earnings, not prices.
- A national system of personal retirement accounts from which employees can opt out if they so choose.
This proposal, combined with the British ministers’ general acceptance of the recommendations made by Lord Turner’s commission, represents an important step for PRAs as a means of Social Security and pension reform. Hopefully Britain’s success will lead to a greater national understanding and approval of PRA’s as a viable method of solving Social Security’s pressing problems. Let’s hope the United States follow Britain’s lead!
Posted by Zack Stiefler| Comments (0)
Proof AARP is a financial scheme: globalization
May 31st 09:30:22 AM
There is a new testament to the fact that AARP is a great money making scheme: it just hit the UK.
The BBC has reported that British Senior's group "Age Concern" has just launched their own version of AARP called "Heyday."
On their website, Age Concern states:
The membership scheme model reflects other similar successful organisations across the world, including AARP in the US and Dane Age in Denmark.
One thing "Heyday" has going for it is a much better name. The "retired" stigma of the AARP is a problem that organization will just never shake and which costs it lots of members annually.
Since Britain, too, is in the midst of a state pensions crisis, it will be interesting to see if Heyday also copies the misinformation campaign about policy reform which AARP created last year. AARP's models of deception about personal accounts are almost as good as its models for membership schemes, but hopefully Heyday won't try to burden young Americans in the same way AARP does.
Posted by Nicola Moore| Comments (0)
May 25th, 2006Raising the FRA: The "Easy Way Out"
May 25th 01:34:36 PM
CBS News recently published an article designed to explain retirees’ options for taking Social Security. It lists the three “choices” for retirement that the government has decided to give workers: Either retire before the Full Retirement Age (FRA) and receive less money per month, retire at the FRA and make a normal amount of money, or retire after reaching the FRA and claim more money.
Unfortunately, the FRA keeps rising for workers, forcing them to work for longer and longer periods of time before they reach retirement with full compensation. The FRA is steadily increasing from 65 to 67, and will certainly continue to rise.
The government sees this as the only way that the current system can prolong its inevitable bankruptcy, but workers are finding ways to get around these government mandates and still receive the same amount of money. A recent study performed by the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that increases in the FRA lead to increases in the number of workers that apply for Disability Insurance (DI). Today’s workers realize that they can take DI at 63 until they finally hit the FRA and still come out ahead.
People are smart enough to get around the arbitrary government mandates concerning Social Security, so why not eliminate them all together? By allowing investment into Personal Retirement Accounts, individual workers would be given the opportunity to actually choose what to do with their retirement money instead of being forced to conform to (or circumvent by claiming DI) a number of arbitrary governmental formulas.
Posted by Zack Stiefler| Comments (0)
American Association of...Young People?
May 25th 10:47:06 AM
There is an interesting narrative about AARP age discrimination in Dale Van Atta’s book, Trust Betrayed: Inside the AARP.
AARP prides itself on fighting against age discrimination. On its website it offers examples of age discrimination in the work place, ways to prevent this discrimination, and even has an interactive quiz to test the viewer’s knowledge of age-based prejudice. AARP has jumped at every chance to testify in Congress and engage in lawsuits (e.g., the 3M age discrimination suit of April, 2005).
However, if you take a closer look, you will see that AARP is as guilty of age discrimination as any one of the companies against which it so vehemently crusades. In fact, in a discrimination survey conducted of AARP employees, many said they felt prejudiced against based on their age.
AARP considers it a duty to speak out against age discrimination in other businesses, but who is there to fight for those employees against whom AARP itself discriminates?
Otis Gabriel, an AARP employee who worked as Chief of Employee Relations, filed suit because AARP shifted him from his position into one that took him away from the flow of operations. He claimed that AARP moved him to a position of much less power and importance in part because of his age, despite years of outstanding performance reviews. AARP eventually settled rather than face the intense scrutiny of a court case.
Unfortunately, this is hardly an isolated incident. AARP was once run entirely by retirees, but now close to 80 percent of its staff is too young to even qualify for full AARP membership. Van Atta’s book put it best: “They don’t practice what they preach! I suspect AARP operates in spite of its members more than on behalf of them!”
Posted by Zack Stiefler| Comments (0)
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