Social Security At Risk - Write a Letter Now!

Social Security At Risk - Write a Letter Now!

NYAPRS Note: The following comes to us courtesy of Justice for All, a service aligned with the American Association of People with Disabilities, a national organization of which NYAPRS is a member. According to the following action alert "Although privatization will have disastrous effects on all Americans, racial and ethnic minorities, Americans with disabilities, women and children will be particularly hard hit."

Timed to coincide with today's Senate Finance Committee's first public hearing on Social Security, the following alert urges us to use USAction's website to e-mail letters to our US Senators and Representatives and to the President urging them to 'keep the promise of social security' for Americans with disabilities' and other beneficiaries.

Dear Friend,

The Social Security campaign has reached a pivotal moment...

On Tuesday April 26, the Senate Finance Committee will hold its first hearing to discuss Social Security privatization plans. USAction and Americans United to Protect Social Security are responding by organizing rallies across the country. On the same day, in Washington DC, two thousand people along with 150 Members of Congress will rally to preserve Social Security.

We need your support!

Tell Congress: Keep the Promise of Social Security!

President Bush has made privatizing Social Security one of his major domestic priorities for this year. Social Security is the nation's best family insurance program, providing guaranteed benefits for the majority of Americans. The president's privatization plan takes away the guarantee by cutting benefits and gambling what's left in the stock market.

Take Action: Send Your Letters to Washington by going to:

Take Action

SAMPLE LETTER

Your Federal Senator(s)

Your Federal Representative(s)

Bush, George (Republican) - President

Dear (recipient name),

I want to keep my Social Security card as a public trust between children, parents and grandparents. Social Security is our promise to each other to care for each other. For 70 years Social Security has reliably provided retirement security, life insurance coverage and disability coverage to all Americans.

Today, 47 million Americans receive Social Security benefits every month. Social Security is the most effective government program in our nation. We should strengthen this public program and not break our promise by privatizing Social Security.

In fact, while Social Security faces some challenges in its future, it does not face a crisis. The President's privatization plan would only make the problem worse by reducing Social Security's guaranteed benefits, putting these benefits at risk in the private market, and saddling future generations with a huge burden of debt.

I urge you to keep the promise of Social Security and to take the small, common sense measures necessary to keep Social Security healthy without benefit cuts, risky private accounts or borrowing.

______________________

NOT JUST A RETIREMENT PROGRAM: SOCIAL SECURITY IS A CIVIL RIGHTS ISSUE

Civil Rights Coalition Launches Fight To Protect Social Security And Stop President's High Risk Privatization Gamble

Washington, DC - Today, as the Senate Finance Committee prepares to hold its first hearing on Social Security, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR) is launching a campaign to protect Social Security from privatization and painful potential benefit cuts. LCCR, the nation's oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, is joined by LULAC, the NAACP and its College & Youth Division, the National Council on Independent Living and the National Partnership for Women & Families at a news conference on Capitol Hill in launching the new national campaign.

"Protecting Social Security from the President's high risk privatization scheme is critical because it is one of our nation's most fundamental civil rights programs," said Wade Henderson, executive director of LCCR.

"Privatization will effectively discriminate against women, Americans with disabilities and minorities by denying them a secure retirement. It will play roulette with the welfare and retirement security of more than

47 million retirees. We will not stand by and let the President undermine the retirement security that so many Americans have spent their whole lives working for or allow cuts to programs that so many Americans count on to make ends meet."

Although privatization will have disastrous effects on all Americans, racial and ethnic minorities, Americans with disabilities, women and children will be particularly hard hit. Social Security's progressive benefit structure provides the greatest support to low-wage and part-time workers, who are more likely to be minorities, Americans with disabilities and women. The president's privatization scheme would lead to crippling benefit cuts and would push many low-income retirees into poverty and debt.

1. Privatization would rob women and children of security. Debra L. Ness, President of the National Partnership for Women & Families explained, "Women are already disadvantaged in retirement because we are paid less, live longer, assume more care-giving responsibilities and are less likely than men to have private pensions. Women rely heavily on Social Security. We are three in five recipients. More than half of older women would be poor without their Social Security benefits."

2. Privatization is a gamble the Latino community cannot afford. "Private accounts made up of stocks and bonds are a risky investment - not a secure insurance policy," said Brent Wilkes, the executive director of League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). "Latino families cannot be placed at risk and we cannot support any project that jeopardizes Social Security. Not only is it a retirement insurance that is a pillar of the middle-class way of life, but it accounts for the disadvantaged - the lost, least and forgotten."

3. Privatization would lead to deep benefit cuts that would hurt workers with disabilities and their families. John Lancaster, the executive director of the National Council on Independent Living (NCIL) explained, "More than seven million Social Security checks go to people with disabilities and their families to help them live and work independently. NCIL believes that the proposed private accounts could result in major benefit cuts, massive new government borrowing, and could destroy the social insurance system designed to reduce risk from certain life events."

4. Privatization would put African Americans at risk. Hilary Shelton, the Washington Director of the NAACP explained, "All three Social Security programs - retirement, disability and survivors' benefits - are disproportionately important to the economic survival of African Americans and other racial and ethnic minority Americans. Americans of color have traditionally been at the low end of the earning scale over our lifetimes. We are historically more apt to have pursued physically demanding jobs in our lifetimes, and as such have a lower life expectancy and a higher rate of disability than the average American."

"Social Security is so much more than a retirement program," said Henderson. "It is the only source of income for four out of ten older African Americans and Latinos, it prevents one out of two women over the age of 65 from slipping into poverty and enables 7 million Americans with disabilities and their families to live independently. We shouldn't be gambling with America's future, tossing our hard earned retirement into private accounts that may or may not give us and our families the security we need. The President's privatization scheme would gut survivor and disability programs, leave our retirement security to chance and undermine one of our country's single most important civil rights programs."

SOCIAL SECURITY: ONE OF OUR MOST IMPORTANT CIVIL RIGHTS PROGRAMS

1. Social Security is one of our most important civil rights programs. It protects the welfare and retirement security of 47 million retirees, Americans with disabilities, widows and children of whom a disproportionate share are minorities. African Americans, Latinos, women and people with disabilities tend to earn less and have smaller pensions than other Americans, making them far more dependent on Social Security and far more vulnerable to a risky privatization scheme.

2. For many minorities Social Security is their only source of retirement income, making privatization a reckless gamble. For 40% of older African Americans and 38% of older Latinos, Social Security is their sole source of income; without it, the poverty rate of retired African Americans and Latinos would more than double.

3. More than 7 million Americans depend on Social Security's disability benefits, including 1.6 million children who have a parent with a disability. Privatization would lead to devastating benefit cuts that would hurt workers with disabilities and their families. Social Security provides the only disability insurance that adjusts for inflation, is designed to protect children who have a parent with a disability, and is available to workers who have an existing disability or another health condition.

4. One out of two women over the age of 65 - including more than two-thirds of unmarried women - would slip into poverty without Social Security. Social Security accounts for at least 90% of the income for two-thirds of retirement age Hispanic women and three-quarters of African American women without it, six out of ten African American and Hispanic women would live in poverty. Women live longer than men and depend on Social Security's guarantee of a lifetime benefit - tinkering with Social Security would put these women at risk.

5. 5.4 million children depend on Social Security benefits. For the average working American family with two children, Social Security provides the equivalent of a $350,000 disability insurance policy and a $400,000 life insurance policy to protect their kids. These built in safeguards are especially critical for minority children. For example, while African American kids make up only 12 percent of the population, 22% of children who count on Social Security survivor benefits are African American. Privatization would put all of our kids in danger.

6. Social Security protects the working poor. Social Security's progressive benefit structure provides the greatest assistance to low-wage and part-time workers, who are more likely to be minorities, women and Americans with disabilities. The president's privatization scheme would lead to crippling benefit cuts and would push many low-income retirees into poverty and debt.

This 'Mental Health E-News' posting is a service of the New York Ass'n of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services, a statewide coalition of people who use and/or provide community mental health services dedicated to improving services and social conditions for people with psychiatric disabilities by promoting their recovery, rehabilitation and rights. To join our list, please click on the E-News Subscription button.

Last Updated on 04/26/05 webmaster@namiscc.org

Opinions expressed in this web site do not necessarily reflect the views of NAMI Santa Cruz County, NAMI California or any affiliated organizations. We attempt to present a balanced perspective on issues by presenting multiple viewpoints.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This may contain copyrighted (©) material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml If you wish to use copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.