Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Bob Herbert rises to defend Social Security
And does so in a handsome fashion, shooting down the lies and lifting up the truth about the best government program, ever!
When you see surveillance videos of some creep mugging an elderly person in an elevator or apartment lobby, the universal reaction is outrage. But when the fat cats and the ideologues want to hack away at the lifeline of Social Security, they are treated somehow as respectable, even enlightened members of the society.This is one column you need to clip out and give to your crazy Uncle Louie who watches Glen Beck all the time. At the very least he will never speak to you again.
We need a reality check. Attacking Social Security is both cruel and unnecessary. It needs to stop...
Mugging the nation’s grandparents by depriving them of some of their modest, hard-earned Social Security retirement benefits is hardly an answer to the nation’s ills. And, believe me, those benefits are modest. The average benefit is just $14,000 a year, which is less than the minimum wage would pay. With employer-provided pensions going the way of the typewriter and pay telephones, the income from Social Security is becoming more precious by the day.
“If we didn’t have Social Security, we’d have to invent it right now,” said Roger Hickey, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future. “It’s perfectly suited to the terrible times we’re going through. Hardly anyone has pensions anymore. People’s private savings have taken a huge hit, and home prices have been hit hard. So the private savings that so many seniors and soon-to-be seniors have counted on have just been wiped out.
“Social Security is still there, and it’s still paying out retirement benefits indexed to wages. It’s the one part of the retirement stool that is working.”
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Retirement pensions are under attack on all fronts, from the fat cats who plundered public employee pension funds with bogus mortgage-backed securities (note that public employees other than Federal employees don't get Social Security) to the continual attacks upon Social Security. I guess that's the new Republican retirement plan to go with the new Republican health care plan, which, as former Rep. Grayson so colorfully put it, is "don't get sick, and if you do get sick, die quickly." The Republican retirement plan, apparently, is "don't get old, and if you do get old, die quickly." Hmmmmm.....
- Badtux the "But don't we all get old?" Penguin
- Badtux the "But don't we all get old?" Penguin
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