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September 18th, 2006Our View
September 18th 09:57:12 AM
Across the country, college students are back in
school or soon headed to campus. While parents and
part-time employers try to decide if their lives are
now better or worse, students are finding life
decidedly more enjoyable. There are football games to
attend, sororities to join, people to meet, and even
new books to read. It's a great time of the year.
Let us not forget, though, that we have bigger issues
to address. Just as football games distract us from
studying on Saturday, the pursuit of a better resume
often prevents our generation from tackling larger
problems such as Social Security reform. We haven't
yet fixed Social Security, but young people are
beginning to agitate more noticeably for change.
Our generation resents being forced to pay into a
broken system, and we're attracted to the choice and
ownership offered by personal retirement accounts.
Furthermore, we are alarmed that Congress continues to
do nothing on the issue of Social Security. It's more
fun to play politics, apparently, than it is to get
some work done.
Unlike terrorism and natural disasters, which create
panic and induce immediate response, the Social
Security problem steadily and quietly grows worse. As
long as there is no moment of crisis or due date for
reform, the temptation is to put things off until
another day.
"Procrastination is the thief of time," Mark Twain
wrote, leaving it up to us to decide the value of our
loss. In the case of Social Security reform, we have
exact numbers: Since the Trustees began making
projections three years ago, the size of the total
Social Security deficit has grown from $10.5 trillion
to $13.4 trillion.
These are terrifyingly large numbers, yet they seem
not to be enough to spur Congress. In order to bring
about change, our generation must increase the
pressure on elected officials to reform Social
Security as soon as possible.
Posted by Ryan Lynch| Comments (0)
September 15th, 2006QUOTE OF THE WEEK
September 15th 12:15:18 PM
"To be young in my generation was to feel that your future had been mortgaged out from under you, and that's a tragic mistake we must never allow our leaders to make again."
--Ronald Reagan
Posted by Chaz Cirame| Comments (0)
September 14th, 2006BOOYAH Ryan Lynch!!
September 14th 10:17:27 AM
Another great article was published by S4 Rockstar Ryan Lynch.
He talks about the recent anti-Social Security reform rally on the Hill. Check it out here.
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (0)
September 07th, 2006The Investment Banker Who Never Works--Does That Job Pay?
September 07th 05:13:33 PM
S4 and our friends at FreedomWorks headed over to to an anti- Social Security reform rally today led by Sen. Reid and Rep. Pelosi, and we weren't greeted very kindly. But some of the personal attacks we just couldn't figure out. While one man yelled that we are "investment bankers," another argued, "You've never worked a day in your lives." There was also my personal favorite: "You guys don't know what you're talking about. You're still wet behind the nose." We're a bit confused by the rhetoric, but we are all ears if any of these folks offer a reform plan of their own.
Read more and see pictures here.
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (1)
September 06th, 2006Social Security Still a Priority
September 06th 09:24:06 AM
Jonathan and Ryan were quoted in a press release published by The Free Liberal. In the release, S4 reacted to President Bush's comments on the importance of fixing Social Security. “The unfunded liabilities inherent in Social Security and Medicare” make up one of “the two biggest challenges that I would like to see solved in the next two and a half years,” President Bush told NBC's Brian Williams in an interview last week. Speaking for all of us at S4, Jonathan said, “We are delighted that President Bush will continue to lead the charge for reform.”
Read the press release here!
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (1)
September 02nd, 2006Labor Day Weekend
September 02nd 09:02:04 PM
This labor day weekend, if you want to mix things up a bit at a party (be honest with yourself- 3 day weekends = lots of opportunities for it...!)I would encourage you to try building a social-security-ponzi-scheme-human-pyramid. Pictured below are some S4 members building a pyramid.
 Our Social Security system is often called a Ponzi scheme because it models so closely what Italian immigrant, Charles Ponzi, set up back in 1916...a so-called "investment" system, where he would take money from initial investors, promising to invest it, but was really just duping them out of their money in a sort of "rob-Peter-to-pay-Paul" principle. As the next picture demonstrates, this method is unsustainable.
 Our S4 human pyramid was beginning to crumble. Social Security is like this - it initially paid huge returns to early collectors. But, as the Cato Institute points out in one of their articles, "Social security does not make any real investments - it just takes money from later "investors", or taxpayers, to pay benefits to earlier, now retired, taxpayers. Like Ponzi, Social Security will not be able to recruit new "investors" fast enough to continue paying promised benefits to previous investors."
Thru our own human-pyramid-building-labor-day-weekend-fun, we can show that Social Security is eventually going to collapse, just like Ponzi's scheme. So go on, have fun this weekend, and while you're at it, build some human pyramids and advocate for Social Security reform!
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (1)
September 01st, 2006President Bush offers hope to advocates of Social Security reform…
September 01st 02:29:39 PM
On the Tuesday, August 29th NBC Nightly News' interview with Brian Williams, President Bush brings Social Security reform back to the forefront of pressing issues. When asked by Williams what would be his domestic Apollo program for the next two years, President Bush responded…
"I think the two biggest challenges that I would like to see solved in the next two and half years are... one, the unfunded liabilities inherent in our Social Security and Medicare. Baby Boomers are retiring, fewer people are paying into the system and the system is going broke. It's going to require Republicans and Democrats coming together to reform these systems, so they keep their promises." -President George W. Bush 08/30/2006 NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams
These are encouraging words for the Social Security reform movement. With Congress starting session again next week, this is a clear message to all opponents of Social Security reform to save the system before it is too late. It is time to maintain its effectiveness by moving toward personal retirement accounts. It is no longer a time for silence.
watch the video!
Posted by Christy Slanaker| Comments (0)
August 25th, 2006Jeremy debates Campus Progress
August 25th 09:31:05 AM
Background:
Dana Goldstein of Campus Progress was a co-panelist with Jo Jensen at the recent C-span event. Dana wrote an account of the event that I did not feel was fair, and I told her so in a comment at the bottom of her article. Her response to my comment is located here where she challenges me to disprove the statement, "I would like to see you, or any other young pro-privatization activist, respond to the basic facts I've outlined: every American earning more than $20,000 per year would see a decrease in Social Security benefits under conservative private account proposals."
So I took her up on her offer, which you can read by clicking "read more".
I will give her a few days to respond, and then I will pose a question to Campus Progress to answer.
UPDATE: I'm not sure where Campus Progress is. It's been a week, and I haven't heard anything or seen anyone from there posting in any of the threads. JR is making an effort to fill in, but he really shouldn't have to. Where are they?
Read More »
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (19)
August 24th, 2006S4 members talk with Seniors about Social Security
August 24th 04:34:14 PM
Yesterday, we visited seniors in Wilsonville to get their opinion on Social Security reform. We wanted to see if they would be open to the idea once they knew that the reforms we advocate for DO NOT affect them. Most were very receptive.
Check out the photo gallery for pics!
One of the ladies pictured wanted Sen. Smith and Wyden's phone numbers- to call and ask what they are doing about the problems facing SS!! Booyah AARP
We saw first hand, that when the myths are dispelled, Seniors are NOT opposed to Social Security reform! Hopefully, S4 can continue to team up with Seniors and together, let our Senators and Representatives know that we want them to do something (give us control and ownership of our tax $$!!) to secure our future!
Posted by Evan Dent| Comments (1)
August 16th, 2006We've got video!
August 16th 08:39:10 PM
This is only the first of a few snippets of video from our recent Hill event where we had over 400 excited students show up to!
Many thanks to our speakers, who all were really great, and to all of the students who continue to be involved in this important issue.
More to come soon!
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
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