Save Social Security from Privatization

Tell Congress: Don't Destroy Social Security by Privatizing it!

President Bush is trying to scare Americans into believing that Social Security is in crisis and must be destroyed to "save" it. The President is pushing Congress to approve a radical plan that would dismantle the program by permitting workers to use their Social Security contributions to play the stock market. President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security would eliminate the guaranteed benefit, cut benefit levels, likely raise the retirement age and add trillions of dollars to the already out-of-control budget deficit.

Over the long term the Social Security program needs to be adjusted and strengthened. But, contrary to the President's untruths, Social Security is not in crisis. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the Social Security program can continue to pay 100 percent of guaranteed benefits until 2052 and only needs minor changes so that it can continue to pay 100% of the currently guaranteed level of benefits for the rest of the century.

Send a message now! Tell Congress that private investment accounts would destroy Social Security.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Don't Destroy Social Security

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security woud eliminate the guaranteed benefit, cut benefit levels, likely raise the retirement age and add trillions of dollars to the already out-of-control budget deficit. The Social Security program is not in crisis--even the Congressional Budget Office has said so. The President's plan to so-call "save" Social Security will do nothing more than destroy it. I urge you to oppose the Bush Social Security Plan.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
February 07, 2005

Background Information

With private pensions and public employee retirement plans under attack, working families need more retirement security, not less. But privatizing Social Security would make retirement less secure by cutting guaranteed benefits by 30 percent for even for those who do not choose privatized accounts.

For workers who do choose to have privatized accounts, the government would take back 50 cents for every $1 in an account—on top of the 30 percent cut in guaranteed benefits.
For the average worker who lives 20 years beyond retirement, that’s a $152,000 cut in guaranteed benefits. Privatization would push many more seniors into poverty.
Privatization would hurt the economy and explode the deficit, passing on $2 trillion in debt to our children during the first decade alone. Most of that money would be borrowed from foreign bankers in China and Japan.
Privatization would open Social Security up to corruption, waste and Enron-ization because politicians would hand-pick which Wall Street investment companies could make billions off our privatized accounts. Decisions about Americans’ retirement security should be based on what’s best for average people, not tied to politicians’ wealthy friends or companies that have political influence.
We must strengthen Social Security—but we must take the time to do it right so we help rather than hurt working families. We should be talking about commonsense fixes for Social Security rather than slashing benefits. First, we must insist that the government pay back money that’s been borrowed from the Social Security trust fund. We also could end the “wealthy wage exemption” so CEOs pay the same Social Security taxes on their incomes as average working people pay on theirs. We could roll back President Bush’s most excessive tax breaks for the very wealthy. And we can help working families build private pensions and savings on top of guaranteed Social Security.