Need comments on my Social Security LTTE

[T Roosevelt]

The paper's limit is 250 words, which I am well below.


The Bush administration is peddling the lie that Social Security is in crisis and needs immediate reform. Unfortunately, the media has all but fallen down and accepted this as the case, when it clearly is not. The Social Security program has been the most successful of any government program, has kept millions of disabled and elderly from descending into poverty, and will be sound for the next fifty years.

In 1983 the program was revised to assure its continued viability. Now the administration wants to privatize it, essentially stealing money from the working class and passing it onto the wealthy in this country. And as with Iraqi WMDs, they are lying to get it done.

Privatization has failed everywhere it has been tried, from Britain to Chile. The only people who benefit from Social Security privatization are Wall Street companies, the same ones that have recently been found guilty of stealing from and deceiving investors, the same ones that contributed millions to his presidential campaign. And these are the companies that Bush wants us to entrust our money with. I don't think so.

[DireStrike]

1. Don't talk about elderly and disabled.

Social Security is earned pension for all Americans. These groups don't elicit sympathy, they allow the program to be characterized as "welfare" which is somehow a bad thing. Perhaps you can talk about the elderly, but you almost certainly shouldn't talk about the disabled. The idea is to convey the thought that SS is a reward earned for serving the country.

Here are some articles with nice statistics you might also want to work in:

http://www.cepr.net/columns/weisbrot/mark_weisbrot_12_03_04.htm

http://www.cepr.net/publications/facts_social_security.htm

Good letter, overall! You may want to check in at the "frame the debate" forum.