Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 27, 1994 TAG: 9409270091
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
The survey, released Monday, tells a ``chilling tale of young people convinced that the social contract between the generations has been dissolved,'' said the sponsoring group, Third Millennium.
The name refers to the period following the year 2000, when people in the age group sometimes called Generation X will be moving into positions of authority.
According to the poll, just over one-fourth of people between the ages of 18 and 34 believe Social Security will still exist when they retire, compared with 46 percent who think there are UFOs.
Only 9 percent of the young people think Social Security will have the money to pay their retirement benefits.
``Despite their faith in UFOs, young people know that the solution to the Social Security funding crisis - and the national debt crisis - will not fall from the sky,'' said Richard Thau, Third Millennium executive director.
Indeed, a new draft report by the Congressional Budget Office concludes that ``no easy fixes to the funding problems of the Social Security system exist.''
Right now, the Social Security trust funds take in more than they spend. This year alone, CBO estimates that Social Security will collect about $58 billion more than it will pay in benefits.
But during the retirement years of the baby boomers, the generation of people born between 1946 and 1964, annual benefits will exceed receipts and the trust funds will be exhausted by 2029, unless changes are made.
The congressional budget experts, in their draft study, conclude that improving the investment returns of Social Security's trust funds or investing to improve overall economic growth will not solve the funding problem.
In its report, Third Millennium said Social Security is ``hurtling toward its next financial crisis.'' Serious structural reform is desperately needed, it said, but the political will to make the difficult decisions has not existed.
``And as public confidence in the retirement system deteriorates, intergenerational conflict becomes an increasingly likely feature of the American public landscape,'' it said.
Third Millennium said that while Generation Xers have been labeled selfish and self-centered by the media, its survey demonstrates it is the elderly who care most about themselves, even at the cost of future generations.
Its poll found that one-third of senior citizens think they are getting less than they deserve from Social Security, although their benefits have outstripped their contributions.
According to the poll, just over half of the youth surveyed supported paying benefits based on need and making benefits 100 percent taxable for wealthy recipients.
The poll was conducted in early September and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points. Surveyed were 500 Generation Xers and 500 senior citizens.
by CNB