Social Security Day Of Action March 31

Social Security Day of Action

Thursday March 31st

Dear Indiana Working Families E-Activist,

Thursday March 31st is a day of action to protect Social Security. President Bush and top administration officials have been barnstorming the country on a 60-city, 60-day tour to drum up support for the president's plan to privatize Social Security. And conservative groups are spending millions on advertising to promote private accounts.

Despite this all-out effort, recent polls indicate most people don't support privatization of Social Security. In fact, the more people learn about Bush's privatization plan, the more their opposition grows.

But we can't afford to let up now. Our representatives in Washington need to continue to hear from their constituents. Please let your representative and senators know you don't want your Social Security jeopardized through risky, costly privatization schemes.

The first step will be for you to quickly send a message to your US Congress person and US Senators along with President Bush telling them "not to privatize Social Security"--to do this just simply follow the links on this page.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Social Security Concerns

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

I am writing to let you know I oppose any efforts to privatize Social Security.

President Bush's Social Security privatization plan will mean huge cuts in guaranteed benefits and cost American taxpayers trillions of dollars to finance.

I strongly urge you to oppose any proposals that would cut Social Security benefits.

The president's plan to cut guaranteed benefits and risk Social Security dollars in the stock market would be both dangerous and expensive. It is a gamble and a cost that average Americans cannot afford.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that under a privatized system such as that proposed by Bush's Social Security commission younger workers, would see their Social Security benefits cut by as much as 46 percent. Young workers deserve the same level of benefits and the same retirement security that older workers now receive.

Social Security is not in crisis and is not going bankrupt. These reckless, false claims must be challenged, and I encourage you to do so.

Social Security is a strong, stable program that millions of Americans have paid into and count on now and for their futures. The Congressional Budget Office reports that the program will be able to pay all promised benefits for nearly 50 years. After that, the program's shortfalls could be fixed with minor adjustments, such as raising the cap on wages subject to the payroll tax, so wealthy individuals pay taxes on all their wages, just like working men and women do. Congress also could repeal President Bush's tax cuts for the rich and use this money to strengthen Social Security.

President Bush's plan to privatize Social Security would force the federal government to borrow trillions of dollars to pay for "transition costs." The burden of paying for this huge increase in the national debt would fall to current workers and their children in the form of higher taxes.

I'm counting on you to do the right thing -- preserve Social Security for me, my children and grandchildren, and for all Americans.

I would like you to write me back and let me know your position on this critically important issue.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Campaign Launched:
March 25, 2005

Background Information

The privatization proposal hurts everyone, including today's beneficiaries. Privatization would take $2 trillion from Social Security in just the next decade, endangering the benefits of current retirees and people with disabilities, and would directly cut benefits by almost 50 percent for future generations. Even people who don't choose to enroll in the new individual accounts will have their benefits cut.

The privatization proposal would cut Social Security's guaranteed benefits and undermine the only secure and stable source of retirement income for millions of Americans. Only the big corporate interests on Wall Street - who stand to gain millions in new fees under the Republican proposal - will benefit.

The "private accounts" proposed by Republicans would require workers to convert all or most of their "private retirement accounts" into an annuity at retirement, which means they would have to turn over their account balance to an insurance company, and couldn't leave it to their heirs.

The Republican proposals to overhaul Social Security actually move the date of trust fund insolvency up by more than 20 years, to 2021. That's because they take approximately $2 trillion out of the Social Security Trust Fund and move hard-earned retirement contributions into the stock market.