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Our 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
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