Bush's Social Security Scam
from the AARP's blog - an online resource for staying current with the important issue of strengthening Social Security:
Social Security Does Not Need a Radical Overhaul - Speaking in Washington, DC at the National Press Club, AARP CEO Bill Novelli noted... "Here are a couple of examples that, combined, would get us well over half way toward solvency, and there are other possible options to consider:
- Restore the total wages taxed by Social Security to 90 percent of nationwide earnings. This would move the cap from $90,000 in 2005 to $140,000—perhaps phased in over a decade. It would lower the projected shortfall by some 43 percent.
- Diversify Trust Fund investments in a total market index fund, like most pension funds, to get a higher return, which could fix about 15% of the problem."

from ThinkProgress.org:
CLAIM: "By the year 2042, the entire system would be exhausted and bankrupt." [President Bush, 2/2/05]
FACT: In 2042, enough new money will be coming in to pay between 73-80 percent of promised benefits. Even with this reduction, new retirees will still receive more money, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than today's beneficiaries. [WP, 2/5/05]
FACT: Under Bush's plan, expenditures will begin to exceed revenues even earlier, in 2012. [New York Times, 2/4/05]

Playing Texas Hold 'em with Social Security:
"Not on the table, however, are several easier and safer ways to plug the gaps that don't require playing roulette with the elderly's hard-earned security. Senator Ted Kennedy's suggestion would scale back the president's tax cut to pay for keeping Social Security solvent. And the most logical alternative would be to lift the cap that now exempts Americans earning more than $90,000 from paying Social Security taxes on income above that. Or, at least, balance that largess by limiting those people's Social Security benefits by a proportional amount."

A Democratic Blueprint for America's Future :
"Social Security is fundamental to the integrity of that safety net. Never before - until now - has any President, Republican or Democrat, attacked the basic guarantee of Social Security. Never before - until now - has any President, Republican or Democrat, proposed a cut in Social Security benefits. Yet President Bush is talking not just about a cut, but an incredible 33 percent cut. We must oppose it - and we will defeat it."

from MoveOn.org:
some key facts to know about Bush's plan to privatize Social Security:
- Social Security is not going bankrupt, contrary to the president's claims. That is a deception perpetrated in order to create the urgency for radical changes. Under conservative forecasts, the long-term challenges in Social Security do not manifest themselves until 2042. Even then Social Security has 70 percent of needed funds.
- George Bush's plan would make massive cuts in Social Security benefits for future retirees in order to pay for private accounts.
- Privatization means trillions of dollars of new national debt. Because current Social Security taxes are used to pay for private accounts taking that money out means huge deficits -- as high as $15 trillion over the next 40 years.

SIGN THE PETITION!: MoveOn's campaign to save Social Security has a goal to reach 500,000 signers a petition before MoveOn members deliver it to Congress in just ten days. please take one minute right now to sign by clicking here and please send the link to friends and family (thanks for the link Janet!)