Just The Facts

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SOCIAL SECURITY

• Just The Facts
• The Trust Funds are Real
• Social Security's Benefits are Secure for Decades
  
• With No Changes, Social Security Pays Better than
  Privatized System
• Trustees' Economic Predictions are Pessimistic
• Report Already Shows that Privatization Does Not
  Work

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SOCIAL SECURITY

• PRIVATIZATION MAKES THINGS WORSE
• BUSH HAS NO PLAN FOR THE BIGGER PROBLEM
• TRANSITION COSTS TO PRIVATIZE WILL ADD 2.5T TO
  OUR CURRENT DEBT OF 7.4T
• PRIVITIZATION WILL NOT SOLVE THE SOLVENCY PROBLEM

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SOCIAL SECURITY
This is the of current contributions that will
be diverted to private accounts.
4 and 2.2 Contributions Under Bushs Plan
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• Myths
• Private accounts are being touted as a better
  deal for young workers
• Fact
• Young people are among those in greatest need of
  the programs survivor and disability
  protections. Three out of 10 20-year olds will
  become disabled before retirement and one out of
  seven 20-year olds will die before retirement

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• Myth
• Proponents argue that such accounts would
  ultimately provide greater security
• Fact
• Security for whom? What about child
  beneficiarieshow would they be affected? What
  about surviving spouses of workers who die, and
  disabled workers and their families None of
  these issues have even been talked about
• Observation
• What will happened to our disabled veterans and
  their children? What will happen to the children
  orphaned by the Iraq war?

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SOCIAL SECURITY

• Certain things are handled more efficiently
  fairly by society vs. privatizing. This is
  called the light house effect. Examples are
• Toll Roads
• Water Rights
• Social Security
• Transportation
• Light Houses

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• What you can do
• Get involved and stay involved
• Watch and read mainstream news for entertainment
  only
• Educate yourself about the subject matter using
  honest sources of information
• AARP is a good source for Social Security
• Show up
• Call or write your legislators

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• Solutions
• Raise the current ceiling of 90K and tax all
  earnings (recent tax cuts have given a
  disproportional tax benefit to wealthier
  individuals and businesses)
• Gradually increase the current age of full
  benefits
• Invest a portion of Social Security in stocks
  (this spreads the risk over the entire population
  not individuals
• Look at the broader picture in solving our
  problem (did Bushs non-competitive Medicare
  Prescription Drug Program benefit the drug
  companies and add to our overwhelming debt?)

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• Social Security-funded private accounts, would
  not redistribute income they would extend into
  retirement the existing decades-old pattern of
  the rich getting richer, the poor doing worse and
  the middle class eroding.
• Anybody who wants a democratic society cannot
  accept excessively uneven income distribution.
  Societal prosperity is rooted in a thriving
  middle class.
• The alternative? Class warfare and socioeconomic
• chaos exactly what we faced during the
  Depression
• when Social Security was introduced to save
  capitalism.

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• Sources for this Presentation
• Center for American Progress www.americanprogress.
  org
• GAO Report http//www.gao.gov/new.items/d05397t.pd
  f
• Other Sources of Reliable News
• Common Dreams News Center www.commondreams.org
• The Nation
• The New York Times