by Mary Savage
The Trump administration has underhandedly moved forward with something most Americans oppose: Privatizing Social Security. Yahoo Finance reports that Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz said at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Los Angeles last month the $1,000 Trump accounts are meant to privatize Social Security!
In usual crude bluntness, Cruz called this a “dirty little secret” that the “Trump Accounts are Social Security personal accounts.” (MoneyWise article by Godwin Oluponmile, May 25)
This follows Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s unrefined comment last July that Trump Accounts are a “backdoor for privatizing Social Security.” (Politico article by Michael Stratford, July 30) And don’t forget George W. Bush’s failed attempt to send America’s retirement money to Wall Street when he was president in 2005. A public uproar stopped Social Security privatization then and a public uproar is needed to stop it today.
Why? Privatization at any level would literally destroy Social Security, which today provides a modest income for millions of senior citizens, disabled people, surviving spouses and orphaned children. Polls continuously show the American people don’t want Social Security privatized. Americans don’t want part or all of their FICA payments (Box 4 on your W-2 form) to go to Wall Street. The same siphoning of FICA contributions would also fund the so-called government IRAs Trump is touting.
The Social Security Trust Fund is predicted to send out shortfall payments of between 23-26 percent starting in six years. This means a retiree getting $2,000 a month will only get $1,500 a month, unless solid legislative action is passed by Congress. A number of bills have been introduced with real solutions and privatization isn’t one of them, nor is raising the retirement age or enacting means-testing on beneficiaries. The solution is to raise the wage cap on FICA payments so the wealthy pay their fair share into the trust fund.
Social Security is on the ballot in this election year. We have to shake off the current “Hooray for me and to hell with you” attitude of a consumer economy and culture and return to the ideal of “We’re all in this together.”
America’s working people must take on the role of “citizen trustee” to the program’s future. How? Show up at Town Halls and question each candidate about these issues. Don’t let them get away with vague answers. Make sure they say they reject privatizing Social Security. After all, your future and quality of life are on the ballot this election year, too.