THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Monday, April 17, 1995                 TAG: 9504150003
SECTION: FRONT                    PAGE: A6   EDITION: FINAL 
TYPE: Letter 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   38 lines

MANY RETIREES HAVE ONLY SOCIAL SECURITY

I belong to a current-events group, and we have been discussing the recently run letters and articles deploring Social Security yet at the same time listing the pork and subsidies that have raised our national debt to $5 trillion.

Many things that have been written may well be true. However, I fail to find even one comment about the billions of dollars that have been taken from the Social Security Trust Fund to offset the deficit.

Over the years, if the money that was taken (stolen?) had been in an interest-bearing account, I doubt very much if we would be hearing all the cries and lamentations that we hear today.

If some of the pork projects and unnecessary subsidies were done away with, there would be no need to take Social Security funds to make the deficit look smaller.

A recent letter to the editor described all retirees as ``well-heeled.'' Under the old tax law, only about 22 percent of retirees earned enough to pay taxes on their Social Security. Under the new tax law, only 13 percent will pay the additional new tax. There are many people who live completely on Social Security and do not have the additional pension and investment income referred to.

The idea of a private pension plan is a good one. But what about those who are past the age to make that economically feasible? Perhaps this is an idea that can be used for coming generations. But what about today?

GLORIA HOCKMAN

Norfolk, April 10, 1995 by CNB