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July 29th, 2005Pelosi : "We are about pay-as-you-go"
July 29th 01:49:46 PM
Pelosi: "We are about pay-as-you-go"
In the latest sign that the Democratic Leadership just doesn’t get it, one needs look no further than Nancy Pelosi’s appearance on CNN today. She said of Democrats, "we are about solvency and lock box, pay-as-you-go, so that the budget deficit does not drain the trust fund."
I never thought of establishing a pay-as-you-go system that leads to bankruptcy as something you would brag about. I also never considered equating such a system with solvency.
Even the CNN interviewer said "republicans have been demanding you put a plan on the table for months now regarding retirement. You have, but it does not address social security solvency aren't you ducking that?
When the press is calling out your policy shortcomings, it might be time for a change of strategy.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
July 27th, 2005President Bush Encourages Students For Saving Social Security
July 27th 01:54:36 PM
President Bush, Secretary Snow thank student group for their hard work and urge them to continue to fight for reform.
Washington D.C. -Students for Saving Social Security, a non-partisan student group with 180 chapters in more than 40 states nationwide met with President Bush today at The White House. The President thanked the group for their work and encouraged them to press on. He discussed the need to strengthen Social Security for today’s young Americans. Also addressing the group was Secretary of the Treasury John Snow, who affirmed the importance of an ownership society for America’s youngest workers.
"It was exciting to hear today the President’s commitment to personal accounts," said Jonathan Swanson, Yale University senior and co-founder of SecureOurFuture.org. "Today’s event affirmed our commitment to continue to push for personal accounts for our generation. We can’t wait to continue our work this fall. We will continue fighting until we have personal accounts."
"After hearing the President today, there is no doubt he is committed to Social Security reform," Patrick Wetherille, a senior at Haverford College and fellow co-founder of the student group added. "He promised that he would continue to fight to allow our generation ownership over our retirement. Now more than ever S4 is committed to making young Americans’ voices heard."
"Social Security is not going to go away as an issue," said Ben Ferguson, SecureOurFuture.org’s Communications Director. "We are confident in the President’s commitment and ability to lead. In the last several months some major steps have been taken toward reform, and we believe President Bush will see it through. We’re excited to help in any way to encourage young people to enter into the discussion. We can and must be heard."
S4 (SecureOurFuture.org) is a non-partisan, grassroots organization with chapters at college campuses nationwide advocating for Social Security reform through personal ownership. As the largest student group tackling the issue, SecureOurFuture.org is leading the charge to inform and mobilize young Americans to advocate for ownership.
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
American’tsavebecausetheypaytoomuchinsocialsecuritytaxes
July 27th 01:51:27 PM
Yesterday, House Democrats proposed their own solution to the Social Security problem called AmeriSave, a program that would funnel money to existing retirement accounts like IRAs and 401(k)s.
Too bad the solution does not address the Social Security shortfall, nor does it provide a feasible investment strategy for the demographic group it targets.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) claimed in at press conference yesterday that "Our plan will expand and improve existing investment accounts, such as 401(k)s and IRAs, so that American families can benefit from compound interest while retaining Social Security's guaranteed benefit, creating a comprehensive retirement strategy."
The problem, Congresswoman Pelosi, is that one can benefit from the wonder of compound interest only when one has disposable income to invest. The demographic group AmeriSave accounts target can’t afford to save in this manner; the glaring deficiency in the Democrats’ proposal is that if low-income Americans could afford to invest in retirement programs like 401(k)s and IRAs, they already would doing so.
Furthermore, the assumptions on which AmeriSave accounts are based are fundamentally flawed. AmeriSave accounts presuppose that 1) Social Security benefits are “guaranteed” benefits, and 2) investing a portion of payroll taxes through Personal Retirement Accounts destabilizes the current Social Security system.
This logic is faulty for two reasons.
First, Social Security benefits are anything but guaranteed. Flemming v. Nestor dispelled any notion that the government has an obligation to pay out Social Security benefits. Furthermore, as the 2005 Report of the Trustees identified, the system enters deficit spending in 2017 and exhausts all reserves in 2041.
Secondly, voluntary Personal Retirement Accounts offer retirees a better return on their payroll taxes that the government can never take away. While Social Security benefits themselves are not guaranteed, Personal Retirement Accounts would become the property of the owner, able to be passed on as an inheritance to future generations.
Personal Retirement Accounts avoid the fundamental flaws of AmeriSave accounts, providing the advantages of a 401(k) while allowing workers to invest a portion of their earnings that is already earmarked for payroll taxes.
Though it is laudable that Democratic House Leadership acknowledge that no retirement plan is complete without outside investments, AmeriSave accounts fail to achieve their objective: you can’t save money that doesn’t exist.
- Erin Robert
Posted by Jeremy Tunnell| Comments (0)
July 23rd, 2005S4 with Ben Stein and President Bush!
July 23rd 02:04:49 PM
Our communications director Ben Fergeson joined Ben Stein and President Bush on stage today at Silver Springs High School! Ben did an astounding job talking about the benefits of personal accounts and how much of a difference they will make for our generation. Good job Ben!
View the pics: http://www.secureourfuture.org/gallery.php
Posted by Jonathan Swanson| Comments (0)
July 22nd, 2005Nancy Pelosi out of step with young Americans
July 22nd 02:01:24 PM
Students for Saving Social Security members: Young Americans can speak for themselves
Washington D.C. -Students for Saving Social Security, a non-partisan student group with 180 chapters in more than 40 states nationwide, listened in disbelief as Representative Nancy Pelosi declared that young people had the most to lose from ownership of their retirement and that she would protect them from ownership plans.
"Young people prefer to speak for themselves, not have Nancy Pelosi speak for us," said Ursula Williams, Deputy Director of SecureOurFuture.org. "SSSS is out in the field working hard to promote the view shared by 2/3 of young people; that personal accounts are good."
Even the report cited by Ms. Pelosi states, "The most conservative portfolio available, consisting only of government bonds returning about 3 percent annually, would likely exceed the offset rate and result in higher total benefits." (Emphasis in original)
"She forgets that for our generation Social Security reform is simpler than a set of three numbers," added SecureOurFuture.org co-founder Patrick Wetherille, a senior at Haverford College. "The message is simple. Congress is spending our future: stop the raid of the trust fund."
Since 1983, Congress has spent $1.67 trillion of the Social Security Trust Fund for non-retirement spending.
"It is frightening that for more than twenty years Congress has been spending our retirement," continued Wetherille. "And now some leaders are saying they’re going to protect us from themselves. It would be funny if it wasn’t actually happening."
Posted by Jonathan Swanson| Comments (0)
July 21st, 2005MTV's Rock the Vote Silences Youth
July 21st 12:52:14 PM
Hans Riemer of Rock the Vote calls Students for Saving Social Security an "adversary"; SSSS excluded from College Democratic National Convention
Washington D.C. - Students for Saving Social Security (SecureOurFuture.org), a non-partisan student group with 180 chapters in more than 40 states nationwide planned a major outreach event at the College Democrat National Convention this Thursday through Sunday. The group's plan however was thwarted when Hans Riemer, Washington Director of Rock the Vote, told the CDNC that SSSS was an adversary to Rock the Vote.
"Two out of three young adults support ownership of Social Security. If Rock the Vote really cared about mobilizing young people they would work with us - not against us - to make young American's voices heard," said Jonathan Swanson, senior at Yale University and Co-founder of SecureOurFuture.org.
"Unfortunately, it seems that Rock the Vote has some agenda other than making the youth voice heard," added Swanson. "It's a David versus Goliath story. We know that young people want to control their retirement, and we believe that passion and hard-work will triumph over moneyed interests with an agenda."
The CDNC was initially willing to work to bring SSSS into the mix. On July 6, Brendan Martin, Convention Chair for the CDNC, said, "Considering the nature of what you are doing I will try and involve you."
The following week on July 19, Shawn McCoy, a junior at the University of Notre Dame and Outreach Director for SSSS, followed up with Martin. He was told that Hans Riemer, Washington Director of Rock the Vote had spoken to the CDNC and warned that SSSS was "a worthy adversary" to Rock the Vote. The convention no longer pursued a way to include SSSS in their weekend.
"I'd hope that Rock the Vote would encourage discussion of Social Security among young people," said John Goodman, a Georgetown Senior and a Democrat. "This is an issue neither party should be avoiding."
"I was surprised that Rock the Vote, a non-partisan group whose stated goal (http://www.rockthevote.org/rtv_about.php) is to 'empower young people to create change in their communities and take action on the issues they care about,' called us an adversary," added Ben Ferguson, a student at Ole Miss and the Communications Director of SSSS. "We're working tirelessly to create change. Rock the Vote should be aiding us not silencing us."
Posted by Jonathan Swanson| Comments (0)
July 20th, 2005Barefoot in the economic kitchen of America
July 20th 01:58:54 PM
big ups to lea abdnor of 'women for a social security choice' and alison acosta fraser from the heritage foundation for wiping the proverbial floor with NOW and the IWPR (institute for women's policy research) at thursday's debate regarding women and social security.
for groups that claim to represent women, and our interests, they're pathetically off the mark on this issue and sound more like a tool of the 'good ol boys network', whose content with keeping us presumptuous girls uneducated, dependent on men, and barefoot in the economic kitchen of america.
for women, personal accounts foster independence and empowerment unlike the present system, which hurts young women through high payroll taxes, lower job opportunity, oppressive spousal requirements, and penalizes widows.
the revolution for women's liberation is by no means over but, shockingly, NOW has jumped battle lines and is, ironically, fighting AGAINST the advancement of women. the organization, in fact, is turning 40 years old: perhaps she's having a mid-life crisis.
Posted by Ursula Williams| Comments (0)
July 15th, 2005The cost of doing nothing
July 15th 02:06:18 PM
'Generations Together' released their latest Reality Check on the cost of doing nothing with Social Security Reform.
'With the cost of inaction set at $600 billion a year [2004 OASDI Trustees Report], that wasted money could be spent on better things.
It could:
- Pay for No Child Left Behind in 34 days.
- Fund the Medicare program in 207 days.
- Fund the Pell Grant Program in 9 days.
- Fund Troops to Teachers in 10 minutes.
- Pay for "Cover the Kids" health care program in less than 1 day.
- Pay for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program in 30 days.
- Fund Safe and Drug Free schools state grants in 5 hours.
- Fully fund the State Children's Health Insurance Program in 24 days.
- Pay for the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in 9 days.'
For all the Reality Checks, click the following link:
www.generationstogether.net
Posted by Jonathan Swanson| Comments (0)
July 11th, 2005National Academy of Social Insurance
July 11th 02:07:49 PM
The National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) held a Social Security Academy this weekend to educate DC interns about the Social Security debate. When we first heard about the event, we thought this would be a great opportunity for students to be educated on the issues facing Social Security; however, once we saw the list of speakers, we knew it was not going to be a truly educational experience, unless one wishes to learn how the American Association of Retired People (AARP) and Rock the Vote want to maintain the status quo and ruin any chance for choice in the future.
Rather than a Social Security Academy, NASI could have simply entitled the weekend long event an AARP recruitment camp. One of their first speakers, John Rother, AARP’s Director of Policy and Strategy, blatantly laid out his agenda by adding at the end of his speech, “I hope one day you will all become members of AARP.” Since AARP was an official sponsor of the Academy it remains hard to see whether the money was well spent.
Opponents of personal accounts (PAs) attempt to turn the Social Security argument into something it is not, by continuously arguing that proponents of PAs are trying to eliminate Social Security altogether. The fact is, we care just as much as they do about giving people security, but we think greater security lies in personal ownership and beyond the abusive whim of 535 men and women. Remember that it is these same congressional representatives who continue to spend the Social Security trust fund even now on “pork barrel” projects and other government largesse, while the very solvency of the system continues to face dire forecasts.
One of the weekend’s first speakers was Hans Reimer, Washington Director of Rock the Vote and, like Rother, an opponent of personal accounts. Reimer’s suggestion for the students at the Academy: “We should do nothing.” He explained that Democrats could continue without needing to offer any new ideas and still keep the system as-is, while Republicans would be able to watch the system, which he claims they never liked, fall apart. If the purpose of the weekend was to provide education to students, then the lesson provided was only one of cynicism and partisan complaint, not of constructive leadership.
In another odd twist Hans supports collective investment of the Social Security Trust Fund in the stock market. How can he argue against personal accounts but support this? Apparently Hans believes the government is much smarter than the people and should be able to invest for them. Hans must also realize this is a great way to establish the socialist utopia he apparently dreams of in which the government, instead of the people, controls the market.
Reimer was happy to talk to and take a picture with us afterwards, but before the picture he jokingly asked if this was going to end up on the Students for Saving Social Security blog. Assuming then our individual reputations preceded us we did not expect him to allow us the opportunity of a picture, but he revealed his facetious comment when he asked “Are you guys involved in the Social Security debate?”
Yes Hans, we are!
Posted by Jonathan Swanson| Comments (0)
July 07th, 2005The Lion's Den
July 07th 02:03:26 PM
Tonight I took a walk into a lions den. Well, the lions den wasn't really a den at all, but more of a community center and the lions were really just some irritable and misinformed people who are against giving our generation a choice for our future. What I attended was a town-hall style meeting on Social Security in Minnesota hosted by an anti-personal account group. But by the time the one-sided panel was done presenting its case against personal accounts (which was more akin to rant against President Bush), I felt very much like a man tossed to the lions. However, their rhetoric and the sneer quips from the crowd made me I realize that our argument for personal accounts is a sound and reasonable approach. I figured that out when I started pointing out contradictions and dispelling absurd myths during the Q&A session. Apparently, all plans that include the choice of personal accounts are going to strip benefits for everyone, profit only the rich and make your grandmother starve to death. Well, at least that's what this crowd seemed to think. I guess this may be a product of having a panel that is limited to one perspective and a crowd that isn't willing to listen to anything else.
What I came to realize is that the anti-personal account camp is more angry at President Bush than opposed to personal accounts. This shouldn't be a war over ideology. Sadly though, that is the position I found myself in tonight. Rest assured, truth and sensibility was the weapon they least expected and I made it out just fine. Turns out I walked into the "Lion's Den" with a pretty big stick.
-Dave Miller
Posted by Jonathan Swanson| Comments (0)
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