Save For Your Future Campaign Encourages Social Security Reform

August 29, 2003

The Social Security Administration's Save For Your Future campaign stopped in Bowling Green last week to inform residents of Kentucky about the need to save and plan for retirement. The event stressed the essential need for Social Security reform and suggested additional measures for individuals to take to complement their Social Security income at retirement. Bowling Green Daily News Online staff writer Jason Dooley comments on the forum.

Keynote speakers at the event included, U.S. Rep. Ron Lewis (R-Ky.), Social Security Deputy Regional Commissioner Ron Tysinger, American Savings Education Council President Don Blandin, and Patrick Foster, a representative for U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

"'We think these forums are important so we can discuss with different facets of our public about the different services available,' [Tysinger] said. 'We're heading toward a point where there will have to be some changes in our program, and we want to help people prepare for that.'"

At the event, Foster said: "As the Baby Boom generation reaches retirement age, Social Security and Medicare, both of which are based on pay-as-you-go approaches, where taxes on wages made by workers finance payments to those drawing from the system, will face problems as drawers outnumber payers for the first time.

"But we want to make two things clear. The first is that any modernization of Social Security should not affect benefits received by retirees or those nearing retirement, and the second thing is that we're not going to raise payroll taxes to pay for Social Security or raise taxes on Social Security benefits as was done in 1993."

Considering that personal accounts would help provide higher benefits than are currently distributed, Foster says, "We feel like this is a viable way to help fix some of the problems with the Social Security system."

Recent studies have shown that Americans are not prepared for retirement. Dooley writes, "Because of this, ASEC and the Social Security Administration are working to educate Americans about the need to start building for a sound financial future in their 20s, not to wait until it's too late.

Dooley continues, "'Whatever reform plan is eventually agreed on, people should still look at Social Security as only a part of a plan for financial security, not as a sole provider for their later years,' Blandin said.

"'Social Security is an anti-poverty program, designed to help aging people avoid falling below that line,' Blandin said. 'It was never meant to be the sole provider for families as they age, and people need to not look at it that way.'"

Unfortunately, Social Security's responsibility has swelled well beyond an anti-poverty program and some studies suggest that this may discourage personal savings. Furthermore, significant payroll taxes do not allow lower income individuals the opportunity to save for their future. A system that incorporates individual accounts would essentially give all working Americans access to lifetime investments.

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