THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 17, 1995 TAG: 9503170006
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A20 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Jim Baxter calls for educating the people about ``what is going on'' in Social Security (letter, March 9). He sees it as reducing the standard of living for everyone, pitting the young against the old and ``being taken to the cleaners by Uncle Sam.''
Social Security is not only a pension system (and a good one, economically; in calculating what someone gets out compared to what he puts in, be sure to convert to ``real dollars,'' i.e., take account of inflation. When I got my first job, the minimum wage was 30 cents an hour. Gas cost 16 cents a gallon). It is also Survivors and Disability Insurance.
If Mr. Baxter dies before retiring, his wife and three children will be entitled to a monthly check until the youngest child reaches age 18. If he is disabled and cannot work at any job, he will be entitled to a monthly check that may keep his family off welfare. Try buying that kind of insurance at an affordable price, especially if you are self-employed.
Mr. Baxter says Social Security ``reduces the standard of living'' but ``does not create jobs, manufacture products or provide services.'' As someone who enjoyed the potential benefits of Survivors and Disability Insurance for almost 40 years and now is able to enjoy a standard of living significantly higher than it would have been without this pension, I play an important role in keeping the economy of our country flourishing. I am a full-time consumer. The money I receive from Social Security is promptly recycled. I buy manufactured products and services. This not only creates jobs, it is the only way to create jobs.
Finally, Mr. Baxter refers to Social Security as a ``system of redistributing money.'' I'll bet he means it's robbing the rich to pay the poor. Not so. A multimillionaire gets the same amount in Social Security benefits as a pauper (proportionate to how much he contributed, and for how long). Of course, a retiree who is so wealthy he doesn't need the money can simply decline to collect the benefits he is entitled to, but I've never heard of anyone doing this.
The ``Uncle Sam'' who is said to be taking us to the cleaners is us. We elect the senators and congressmen and presidents and governors . . . on down the line to our county supervisors. They try to get elected and re-elected by giving us what most of us want.
If we are truly well-informed, we will not fail to let them know we want honest, fair and realistically practical programs, not sound bites or a free lunch.
NATHANIEL N. BOONIN
Onancock, March 9, 1995 by CNB