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Education Key to Social Security Battle
A new poll confirms that the biggest battle in the fight to stop the Bush overhaul of Social Security will be educating people about how the system works now and how much the so-called reforms will cost the country and individuals.
For instance, the poll showed that a large majority of people, 72 percent, wrongly believes that the cost of living has gone up faster than wages over the past 20 years. As a result, the same percentage said Social Security benefits should be set to reflect increases in prices, not wages, as they are now.
In fact, such a change - one of many the Bush administration wants to make - "would result in significantly lower guaranteed benefits for future generations, according to both supporters and opponents," the Washington Post reported. The poll was conducted on behalf of the Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.
"That must be music to the White House and Wall Street's ears," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "As long as people remain so woefully uninformed, they're not going to act in their own best interests. We have to be on the front lines of changing that."
One positive sign from the poll was that a majority of citizens don't believe Bush's claims that Social Security is facing a funding crisis. Just 27 percent labeled the situation a crisis, while 68 percent described the problems as "major" or "minor" but not urgent.
The poll indicated ample room for opinions to be shaped and shifted. For instance, many people who said they liked the idea of private accounts for investing Social Security dollars changed their minds after being told that the government would have to borrow more than $700 billion to set up the system.
"That seems very excessive," an Alaska man, Jerry Traylor, said, quoted in the Post. "I would be less inclined to favor it if it costs that much. That much money could serve a lot of good purposes."
The private account scheme, announced in Bush's State of the Union address, has sparked outcry from economists and politicians - including concerns from moderate Republicans. Overwhelmingly, economists refute claims that the plan would be a boon for younger workers.
In fact, workers would be risking a guaranteed share of their Social Security nest egg for a tiny - if any - rate of return. And they could take a loss. "Whether you agree or disagree with the idea of privatizing part of Social Security, this plan is a high-risk, low-return proposition that will hurt many people," Bahr said.
White House officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, have acknowledged that the plan could cost trillions and that it would do nothing to solve the system's long-term funding problems. This week, Treasury Secretary John Snow, pressed on that point by Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee who wanted to know what the president plans to do about it, said, "The president at this point doesn't have a plan."
As to individual accounts, a White House official speaking to reporters in a not-for-attribution session admitted that the only way investors would come out ahead is if the government-sanctioned mix of conservative stocks and bond earns more than 3 percent after inflation. "So, basically, the net effect on an individual's benefits would be zero if his personal account earned a 3 percent rate of return," the official admitted.
For instance, the poll showed that a large majority of people, 72 percent, wrongly believes that the cost of living has gone up faster than wages over the past 20 years. As a result, the same percentage said Social Security benefits should be set to reflect increases in prices, not wages, as they are now.
In fact, such a change - one of many the Bush administration wants to make - "would result in significantly lower guaranteed benefits for future generations, according to both supporters and opponents," the Washington Post reported. The poll was conducted on behalf of the Post, the Kaiser Family Foundation and Harvard University.
"That must be music to the White House and Wall Street's ears," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "As long as people remain so woefully uninformed, they're not going to act in their own best interests. We have to be on the front lines of changing that."
One positive sign from the poll was that a majority of citizens don't believe Bush's claims that Social Security is facing a funding crisis. Just 27 percent labeled the situation a crisis, while 68 percent described the problems as "major" or "minor" but not urgent.
The poll indicated ample room for opinions to be shaped and shifted. For instance, many people who said they liked the idea of private accounts for investing Social Security dollars changed their minds after being told that the government would have to borrow more than $700 billion to set up the system.
"That seems very excessive," an Alaska man, Jerry Traylor, said, quoted in the Post. "I would be less inclined to favor it if it costs that much. That much money could serve a lot of good purposes."
The private account scheme, announced in Bush's State of the Union address, has sparked outcry from economists and politicians - including concerns from moderate Republicans. Overwhelmingly, economists refute claims that the plan would be a boon for younger workers.
In fact, workers would be risking a guaranteed share of their Social Security nest egg for a tiny - if any - rate of return. And they could take a loss. "Whether you agree or disagree with the idea of privatizing part of Social Security, this plan is a high-risk, low-return proposition that will hurt many people," Bahr said.
White House officials, including Vice President Dick Cheney, have acknowledged that the plan could cost trillions and that it would do nothing to solve the system's long-term funding problems. This week, Treasury Secretary John Snow, pressed on that point by Democrats on the Ways and Means Committee who wanted to know what the president plans to do about it, said, "The president at this point doesn't have a plan."
As to individual accounts, a White House official speaking to reporters in a not-for-attribution session admitted that the only way investors would come out ahead is if the government-sanctioned mix of conservative stocks and bond earns more than 3 percent after inflation. "So, basically, the net effect on an individual's benefits would be zero if his personal account earned a 3 percent rate of return," the official admitted.