Votes will fly out of the ballots come November when Sen. John Kerry and President Bush supporters duel it out at the voting booths. Candidates have citizens roused about important issues that can affect the future of this nation. Among the most popular ones, such as, education, Iraq, health care and gay marriage, there’s also the issue of social security.
Social Security may not seem like a big concern to a Cabrini College student but if the issues surrounding social security aren’t changed payroll taxes will be increased, benefits of today’s younger workers will have to be cut or massive transfers from general revenues will be required, according to the Social Security Administration. If the problem were to be fixed as early as tomorrow, the smaller and less hasty the changes will need to be.
Looking at where Kerry and Bush stand on this subject is key to recognize what both of these presidential candidates have to offer. Bush proposes, “to give younger workers the option of putting part of their payroll tax into personal retirement accounts, simply put, it would give them the chance to have a higher return on that investment and in return for smaller Social Security benefits.” Kerry on the other hand, “opposes partial privatization of Social Security. He would require companies switching to cheaper lump-sum pension plans to offer retiring workers the choice of staying with traditional company pension.” According to a recent “MSNBC” political report.
With this problem becoming a hot topic with today’s workers, Kerry continues to argue and fight for the benefits that are guaranteed to seniors and will oppose cuts in benefits. He even argues against pushing back the eligibility age. Bush’s proposals are mainly to modernize the use of Personal Savings Accounts and to have workers divert their money to untaxed accounts that rely on stock and bond market investments to provide retirement funds. Since Ralph Nader is a running candidate for the Independent party, Nader’s views on social security are different. Nader assures a voter that the crisis with social security and that money will run out is nonsense.
“Social Security should begin by recognizing that Social Security is a system of social insurance,” according to Nader. While he discussed this Nader also said that working people needed to have some form of control over the pension money that is being invested. So, whatever candidate you’re backing, keep the important issues in my mind.
