THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502080016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Thomas Sowell's column ``Stop `welfare' for the elderly'' (Perspectives, Jan. 22) was a complete misunderstanding of what Social Security was intended to be from it's inception.
My Social Security card is dated Dec. 16, 1936. I paid Social Security tax (as did my employer) from it's beginning - every month - until I retired June 1, 1991.
Americans were told that Social Security would be ``Old Age Insurance'' and would be paid to us on a formula determined by the administrator of the program. Never was I told that I would get back what I paid in, as Mr. Sowell states.
How can something be ``welfare'' that has been paid for through the years - not just by the employee, but by the employer also - every month or quarter from 1937 to 1991?
Mr. Sowell's statement that Social Security represents ``a transfer of wealth from those with less to those with more'' is ludicrous.
In stating that ``the elderly hold most of the nation's wealth,'' Mr. Sowell ignores the fact that it is logical. Someone who has worked 60 years should have acquired some assets. This does not necessarily mean that he is wealthy. I certainly am not!
I reiterate with emphasis: Social Security is not welfare for the elderly.
B. M. SCOTT
Franklin, Jan. 25, 1995 by CNB