Member Newsletter 9/15/05
Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging are committed to building awareness regarding the facts of privatization, and ensuring that the most successful anti-poverty social program in the history of the U.S. is preserved for generations to come. We are a non-profit, non-partisan organization involving students, professors, professionals and workers who believe that Social Security is invaluable in guaranteeing a safe and secure future for all Americans.
Welcome to Our Shared Future , the combined newsletter of Students for Social Security (SSS) and Concerned Scientists in Aging (CSA) , who jointly recognize the dangers of privatizing Social Security. Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging encompasses mid-career and established professionals, college students and junior professionals, as well as those just out of high school and in their golden years, in short, every worker who pays into the Social Security program. Our Shared Future illustrates the connections between people who are often divided or ignored -- the young and old, disabled and not disabled, the poor as well as the middle-class. Students for Social Security (SSS) and Concerned Scientists in Aging (CSA) recognize that we are in this together, and that, together, we can secure Our Shared Future!
Remember -- There is No Crisis! Social Security is the intergenerational contract that benefits all Americans!
Privatizing Social Security is the wrong move. You know it! We know it! And those who champion privatization need to know that we are against it.
Our Mission Statements
Students for Social Security (SSS) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization working to inform students about the evidence-based effects of privatization on young people, their families, and the economy in which they will soon be entering the workforce. We pledge our commitment to the present Social Security system as social insurance for all Americans, and the most successful anti-poverty program in U.S. history.
Concerned Scientists in Aging (CSA) is a non-partisan non-profit group of scholars who are working to: (1) advance evidence based knowledge concerning Social Security and the implications of the campaigns and policy proposals that challenge the existing system; and (2) disseminate information in the public interest concerning retirement security for all Americans including the effects of privatization on the younger disabled, survivors, women, minorities, and all American wage earners and families. Concerned Scientists in Aging is comprised of more than 200 academics throughout the United States gearing up to fight the privatization of Social Security.
In This Issue
* Take Action!
* Calendar of Upcoming Events
* Policy Watch
* Timeline of Past Events
* What can the lack of response to Hurricane Katrina teach us about Social Security?
Take Action!
Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging need everyone's involvement! How can you get involved?
* Become a member of Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging .
* Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper – visit our website for some letter writing tips!
* Make a contribution to Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging by filling out the attached donations page. Please see our website for more ways you can contribute to our efforts!
See more ways you can help and tools you can use to become an effective advocate for Social Security in our Organizer's Toolkit online!
Let us know what you're doing! Email, write or call us and we'll post your events on our website and in upcoming newsletters.
Calendar of Upcoming Events
Both Students for Social Security (SSS) and Concerned Scientists in Aging (CSA) are involved in a number of educational events to inform people of the universally guaranteed benefits provided by our Social Security program. Join us at the following events to learn more and lend your support:
* Teach In For Social Security
Monday, September 26, 2005 from noon to 5pm
Location: University of California San Francisco, Toland Hall, Room C-701 Parnassus Campus
Contact: Brooke Hollister, 415-476-2309, brooke@studentsforsocialsecurity.org
Speakers include Professors Carroll L. Estes and Dorothy Pechman Rice, and Students for Social Security co-founders Brian Grossman, Brooke Hollister, Marilyn Oakes-Greenspan and more... The Community Activist Panel will feature the Gray Panthers, AARP, the World Institute on Disability, and others. Join us from 4-5pm to write letters to your representative, op-ed's and to practice your 60 second Social Security speech!
For more information on upcoming events email, write or call us.
Do you know of any upcoming events in your area? We want to hear about them!
E-mail, write or call us about upcoming Social Security events in your area. We will list them on our website and in future issues of Our Shared Future.
Would you like to hold an event in your area? We can help! Contact us and we’ll let you know how!
Policy Watch
Concerned Scientist in Aging (CSA) and Students for Social Security (SSS) want you to be informed about the latest in policy developments regarding Social Security. Take a moment to get familiar with the latest policy proposals. Do NOT be fooled by the supposed wealth that privatization will bring you. Privatization proposals, which benefit the richest Americans at the expense of the rest of us, do nothing to solve Social Security's problems.
The Social Security Network
A project of the Century Foundation and an excellent way to keep up to date with the latest press and policy reports related to Social Security, and the projected effects of privatization.
The Older Women’s League (OWL)
Download their 2002 Mother’s Day report, Social Security Privatization: A False Promise for Women and keep up to date on issues impacting women and social security.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
Includes PDF downloads on policy related to Social Security privatization, including a critique of the DeMint and McCrery Social Security proposals.
The DeMint and McCrery Plans
Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) and Representative Jim McCrery (R-LA) have introduced legislation in the House ( HR 3304 ) and Senate ( S 274 ) to push through the enactment of private accounts and further weaken Social Security’s solvency. At the same time, the bills have been predicted to raise the “deficit to nearly $500 billion in 2007 -- more than double the projected deficit for that year,” OMB Watch.
Looking Ahead
Though legislators may be claiming that relief efforts for the survivors of Hurricane Katrina and the need to fill judiciary appointments have moved Social Security reform efforts "off the radar," don't be fooled! We must remain vigilant in order to ensure that reform strengthens the intergenerational character of Social Security, and does not replace it with market-dependent private account schemes based on individual risk. Survivors of Hurricane Katrina can testify to the importance of social insurance programs. For many, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) are all they have left.
Timeline of Past Events
Students for Social Security (SSS) and Concerned Scientists in Aging (CSA) have been involved in organizing and educational efforts since our inception in the winter of 2004. Read more about our involvement with U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and U.S. Representatives Nancy Pelosi, Lynn Woolsey, and Susan Davis in their mutual efforts to preserve Social Security for all Americans.
*Celebrating Social Security's 70th Birthday with Dr. Shirley Chater
August 23, 2005
Location: San Francisco, CA
More than thirty people helped celebrate the 70th anniversary of the passage of the Social Security Act of 1935 at the Institute for Health and Aging. There were presentations by former Social Security Commissioner Shirley Chater, Professor Carroll Estes, and Brooke Hollister. In the picture shown above, Carroll Estes, co-founder of both Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging, and Shirley Chater are cutting the birthday cake which is decorated with a larger-than-life Social Security card for John Q. Public on it. Special Thanks to Milena Nelson for donating the birthday cakes.
* Charles Schwab National Shareholders Meeting
May 19, 2005
Location: San Francisco, CA
Mauro Hernandez, co-founder of Students for Social Security, spoke at a rally of about 100 people outside the Four Seasons in San Francisco, protesting Charles Schwab's support of private accounts. Brooke Hollister received a proxy to attend the annual national shareholder's meeting and raised a question about Charles Schwab's support of Social Security Privatization.
* Democratic Women's Forum, Social Security Education and Advocacy Forum
April 9, 2005
Location: San Francisco, CA
About 60 people were in attendance at this meeting in downtown San Francisco on Saturday April 9th. Dr. Carroll Estes (Concerned Scientists in Aging) and Brooke Hollister (Students for Social Security) spoke and sat on the panel with Bryon MacDonald (World Institute on Disability) and Betty Bernstein (Retired Field Representative, Social Security Administration). The event also consisted of break out groups: Speaker's Training, How to organize events, Coalition Building and How to Get press for your cause. We recommend this structure to others as a way not only to inform, but to involve the community.
* Social Security Truth Squad
February 4, 2005
Location: Cleveland, OH
Professor Robert Binstock of Case Western Reserve University and the Council of Older Persons, based at the Center for Community Solutions, established a Truth Squad on Social Security (with buttons saying TS3) that is fanning out to events, schools, etc., to educate the public about the benefits of Social Security the threats of privatization. They have had a training session for members of the truth squad so that they will be well-informed and attuned to effective messaging. In addition, they are planning Op-Ed submissions to our local newspaper and developing a "Myths and Realities" document to be widely distributed.
Do you know of any events that happened in your area? We want to hear about them!
E-mail, write or call us to tell us about any Social Security events that occurred in your area. We will list them on our website and in future issues of Our Shared Future.
To find out more about how SSS and CSA have been working to secure our shared futures visit our past events page on our website.
What can Hurricane Katrina teach us about the privatization of Social Security?
Disasters such as that presented by Hurricane Katrina are more than merely sad events that inspire great charity in ordinary people. These events, always both natural and human in origin, also serve as moments of reflection: opportunities to see and experience, the distribution of goods and resources in
a society. Without diminishing the destruction and death that has occurred in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we would like to address some of the lessons brought to life by this tragedy and how they deepen our understanding of the privatization of Social Security.
* The richer you are, the better off you are when the levee breaks. This is true both for Social Security and Hurricane Katrina. If Social Security is privatized, funds (currently called "surplus") will be diverted from the Social Security Trust Fund, reducing the principal in the Fund and ultimately the interest it produces. Rather than addressing any of the long-term solvency issues that Social Security faces in the decades to come, these proposals exacerbate the solvency issues, hastening the time in which Social Security will have to deplete the Trust Fund in order to pay out benefits. If the Trust Fund is exhausted, those who rely most on Social Security will be most directly affected. Those with more resources were able to drive out of New Orleans prior to the hurricane.
* The poorer you are, the more likely you are to be stranded amidst the flood without food, water, and other necessities.
Before Hurricane Katrina, people with cars were able to leave New Orleans. Those without cars were unable to leave, and as a result sought refuge in the Superdome and the Convention Center, finding a lack of food, water, and basic necessities instead. Similarly, those with more resources will be able to rely on personal savings or (ever-shrinking) government or corporate pensions in the wake of Social Security's shrinking revenues. Those Americans with fewer resources will have less access to these protections and be most affected by reduced Social Security benefits.
* Crisis situations necessitate crisis decisions. Many urgent decisions were made when it became apparent that Hurricane Katrina was going to hit New Orleans. Some of these decisions saved lives; others were less successful despite their intent to alleviate suffering. Because of the impending crisis that a hurricane of that magnitude would bring to New Orleans, decisions needed to be made quickly. Such is NOT the case with Social Security. There is no need to make snap decisions and no need to rush people into programs that are NOT GUARANTEED. Social Security is a guaranteed benefit. It is not in crisis. The issues that Social Security will face are decades away. Let's not pretend that these are crisis times in order to justify making decisions that benefit an elite few at the expense of the rest of us.
Although Social Security is not a crisis situation, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in Louisiana certainly is. Survivors of Hurricane Katrina continue to need our help. Here are some ways you can help --
The Red Cross ( 1-800-HELP-NOW ) UNICEF ( 1-800-4UNICEF)
The United Way (1-800-272-4630) Mercy Corps (1-888-256-1900)
Social Security Fact
Women rely on Social Security more than men do. Women comprise 58% of all Social Security beneficiaries aged 65 and older. - National Women's Law Center
We hope you enjoyed the first issue of Our Shared Future. Look for an issue every two weeks. To receive this newsletter electronically, visit the Join Us! section of our website.
In solidarity,
Students for Social Security and Concerned Scientists in Aging.
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