Who Really Benefits from the Bush Social Security Proposal?
Chances are it's not your family

Dozens of U.S. Senate and House members rallied to show their support for protecting Social Security.

As the details of President Bush’s Social Security proposal unfold, it becomes increasingly clear that few BAC members would benefit and most would lose. Under the President’s proposal three changes would occur:

• First, the federal debt would increase by trillions of dollars.

• Second, so-called “private accounts” would be created, which even his supporters acknowledge would do nothing to strengthen Social Security’s financial position and would not guarantee participants in these accounts higher benefits.

• Last, the formula for calculating future Social Security benefits would be changed so that benefits would be linked to increases in inflation rather than wage increases, which tend to rise faster. According to John Rother, policy director of the American Association of Retired Persons, Social Security benefits, which currently equal 42 percent of the earnings of an average worker retiring at 65, would drop to 20 percent of pre-retirement earnings under the Bush proposed formula. Further, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, estimates that millions of middle-class workers – or seven out of ten workers – would experience huge cuts in their Social Security benefits, and for many workers, “these cuts would be deeper than if no action were taken.”

Halfway across the country, citizens, including Local 27 Illinois Field Representative Rob Gober (above right holding BAC sign) and his wife, gathered in front of House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s office in Batavia, IL for a rally to “stop privatizing” Social Security.

To find out how the President’s Social Security proposal would impact you, visit: www.americansforsocialsecurity.com/ and click on “Calculate Your Loss.”

What About Medicare?

BAC President John J. Flynn joined more than 3,000 union members, religious leaders, retirees, and members of Congress to urge the House and Senate to oppose privatization and benefit cuts, and save Social Security.

While President Bush travels the country trying to create a panic about a possible shortfall in the Social Security fund 36 years from now, Medicare’s financial position continues to worsen, and is being exacerbated by the Administration’s flawed drug benefit program. Since the Administration has prohibited the government from negotiating with pharmaceutical companies for lower drug costs, an important opportunity for bringing down prescription drug costs and improving Medicare’s financial position has been lost.

A report earlier this year from the Medicare Trustees warned that “Medicare’s financial outlook has deteriorated dramatically over the past five years and is now much worse than Social Security.”

Given the Administration’s dismal performance “improving” Medicare, do you really trust them to “improve” Social Security?