Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9501040024
SECTION: EDITORIALS PAGE: F-2 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: B. O'NEAL BURCH
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Recently, I have heard much talk about how the older generation is being supported by the younger generation's contributions to Social Security. Also, it's said that older people are bankrupting the country because of the Medicare program for them.
People keep lumping Social Security with other social programs, and calling all of them ``entitlement'' programs.
It may be that we do not understand the system very well. However, it seems to me that the government owes the people who paid their hard-earned money into a system that was designed to reward them for their investment.
It may be that present contributions are going toward the support of the elderly. But if Social Security tax money had been used properly, there would have been enough to support the elderly. Instead, it has been used to support many people who have made no contributions to the system.
The blame for this problem facing the country should not be placed on the elderly - who, in good faith, made their contributions, expecting a fair return on their investment. It also needs to be pointed out that the elderly are still paying for their medical care when they pay for their medical insurance.
Last year, my wife and I paid $1,818.84 for insurance. We are not getting a free ride. I also paid Social Security taxes until I was 70 years old. Now I am paying taxes on Social Security payments that were also taxed before, when I earned the money.
Those who complain that old people are keeping taxes up must not be very smart. Think of all the people who contributed to Social Security, but who never collected a dime because they died before they were eligible to receive benefits.
Overcharges in Medicare also are not the fault of the elderly. Most of the health-care people are young people. Most of the people who administer the Medicare and Medicaid programs are also young, and many of the young men and women who have had children out of wedlock are young, to say nothing of fathers who desert their children.
To blame the elderly is unfair and hateful. Put the blame for the problem where it belongs - on bad government, bad management, and on deadbeats and crooks who learned how to cheat the system.
Don't blame us poor old people who mostly struggle to make ends meet. We do not deserve this kind of treatment. We paid our dues, we fought the wars, we built the communities, we worked hard to support our government, we believed in the American way, and we deserve some respect.
We feel bad about what is happening to this country, but please don't blame us for it. We are sick and tired of hearing about the burden we have placed on the country - and we don't have the money, the time or the energy to fight back. We helped you, now it is your turn.
B. O'Neal Burch of Christiansburg is retired minister of Faith Missionary Baptist Church.
by CNB