Street Spirit September 2005

Social Security: An Irreplaceable Part of the Safety Net

by the American Friends Service Committee

Social Security is a vitally effective public program that benefits all of us. Despite the myth of an urgent funding "crisis," Social Security can pay all promised benefits until at least the year 2052 and most benefits after that, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office. There is more than enough time to make the system even stronger without undermining it through privatization.

Meanwhile, the United States faces a real economic insecurity crisis today.

The healthcare insecurity crisis: The Census Bureau reports that more than 45 million Americans had no health insurance at any time in 2003. States are slashing Medicaid benefits or dropping coverage for many who need it. People who are uninsured "suffer worse health and die sooner," says the Institute of Medicine.

The job insecurity crisis: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 7.5 million Americans are unemployed. Millions of workers have lost jobs to the global economy or struggle to make ends meet at poverty-wage jobs.

The housing insecurity crisis: One-third of the U.S. population has inadequate, unaffordable, or no housing, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reports. Nearly a million men, women, and children are homeless on any night.

With the right priorities, our nation can strengthen Social Security even further into the future and provide affordable health care, housing, and living-wage jobs.

Rolling back the cap on Social Security taxes for people earning over $90,000 would eliminate any future Social Security shortfall. Repealing tax breaks for the wealthiest one percent of households would provide much-needed revenues to solve today's job, healthcare, and housing crises.

Social Security: a moral issue

Social Security was created in 1935 during the Great Depression because President Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Congress recognized that government has a moral obligation to provide for the common good of its citizens.

Social Security is one of our most successful government programs. It provides steady income in retirement and helps keep millions of retirees, workers with disabilities, and their families out of poverty.

About one in six Americans receives a Social Security benefit today. It's not just a retirement program; more than a third of Social Security beneficiaries are disabled workers, dependents, and survivors. About four million children will receive benefits this year. Social Security is the major source of income for two out of three seniors, and the only source of income for one out of five seniors.

Social Security is one of our nation's most successful anti-poverty programs. Without it, more than half of women age 65 and older would be living in poverty. It's also extremely important for African American men and women and Latinos and Latinas, among other minority groups. Without Social Security, the official poverty rate among African Americans would almost triple, from 22 to 64 percent. Among Latinos and Latinas, the poverty rate would rise from 18 to 51 percent.

Although sometimes Social Security is painted as an issue affecting only senior citizens, young, middle-aged, and older people must work together to preserve it. Social Security is an intergenerational issue. It helps young people in at least three ways. First, many young people receive benefits today as family members of retired, disabled, or deceased workers. Second, it will help young workers who become disabled before reaching their own retirement age. Third, Social Security will help young workers weather an insecure job market by providing guaranteed retirement, disability, and survivor protection.

The reality is that fighting to protect Social Security is a way to have a broader conversation about the role that stakeholders in our government -- that's us -- have in creating a country where everyone gets a fair shake economically.

The attack on Social Security is part of a broader plan to gut public funding of public education, housing, healthcare, and more. Dozens of programs are at risk in this year's federal budget, which Congress will be debating in September.

If those opposed to a strong role for the federal government are successful in picking off Social Security, the most successful government program with the most participants, how can we stand a chance in struggles around Section 8 housing, Medicaid, food stamp and TANF? We call on Congress to keep Social Security as a universal public insurance program.

Proposals to privatize it would destroy the compact the generations make with each other. We also call on Congress to adopt a moral budget that fully funds human needs programs sustained by a fair tax policy. As a compassionate society, we must do no less.

Join AFSC's SOS! campaign to strengthen Social Security and to stop privatization. Tell Congress to focus on people's real problems instead of the myth of a Social Security crisis. Learn more at www.saveourservices.org.

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