Johnson discusses Social Security

Congressman Tim Johnson talks with the public at the Urbana City Center Monday morning. Austin Happel

Liz Yanney, a senior at Wheaton North High School who was visiting the University of Illinois campus Tuesday, said she is a bit concerned about Social Security. "I may have to work until I'm 80," she said.

"They're afraid they're not going to have enough money for Social Security," said Lauren Roschen, a 2005 UIUC graduate. "It's going to affect my generation," she said.

At Mt. Olive Baptist Church on Sunday, the minister urged the congregation to sign a petition to maintain the current Social Security system, said Yemisi Adesida, a UIUC junior. "A lot of people were signing the petition," she said.

Many people are concerned about the future of Social Security, and more than 200 people attended a town hall meeting held by U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson at the Urbana Civic Center Monday night to hear the congressman's position on the President's proposal.

The large turnout took Johnson's staff by surprise, since only about 40 people had participated in Urbana's last town hall meeting four years ago, said Press Secretary Phil Bloomer.

Young people should be concerned about Social Security, Bloomer said, because it is going to affect them. In their lifetimes, three or four people will support a single Social Security recipient, he said, while there were 40 people supporting one recipient when the system began.

President Bush announced new details about his plan to change Social Security at a press conference held on April 28, 2005. The plan has two components: mandatory benefit reductions for nearly all American workers and optional private accounts, which would reduce guaranteed benefits for workers who choose an account.

Bush has said private accounts will grow fast enough to provide a better return than the present system. History suggests that may be so, but the stock and bond markets are impossible to predict.

House Resolution 3304, the McCrery-Shaw GROW (Growing Real Ownership for Workers) Act, which was introduced in mid-July, would dedicate the annual Social Security surpluses to private accounts.

"(HR 3304) took the worst elements of President Bush's ideas: privatization, budget cuts and combined them with a raid on the Social Security Trust Fund," said Kevin Sandefur, president of Champaign County's AFL-CIO. Rep. Johnson will vote on HR 3304 when he returns to Washington in September.

A survey conducted by the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank, showed that 18- to 30-year-olds believe it is more likely they would see a UFO (43 percent) than a Social Security check (28 percent)during their lifetimes. The survey found that younger people favored investing in private accounts.

Of course, some people might be able to earn greater returns by investing the money in the stock market, said Mark Leff, ÿassociate professor of history and outgoing president of the Union of Professional Employees. But when you say, "What's in it for me," said Leff, you've missed the point.

Social security is an "intergenerational responsibility backed by government bonds," said Leff. The money put in by current workers supports retired people now, and the system holds that money will be there in the future when young workers are ready to retire.

"It's, of course, younger people who are going to be hurt the most by the kinds of revisions that President Bush is talking about," said Leff. "The way that they'll use inflation instead of overall wage increases to calculate pensions, meaning that the pensions that young people today receive will be worth a lot less."

Under the President's plan, a typical Illinois worker choosing a private account and retiring in the year 2080 would see a lifetime benefit cut of $256,061 in today's dollars, said Ryan Canney, organizing director of Illinois United to Protect Social Security.

Johnson vowed he would take no action that would jeopardize the benefits of those who are already in the system. "My first obligation is to assure that this Social Security of ours, which is meant to provide a safety net for people in their golden years, is maintained and strengthened," Johnson said.