Raiding our retirement

In the face of the growing pressure from the elderly who are spending a large portion of their income on overpriced drugs, and in the face of an upcoming election our elected officials have seen it fit to pass a prescription drug program; a program that gives special interests a lot and the elderly very little. By the way, all other industrial nations have provided these benefits for their citizens for years.

After years of Congress borrowing billions from the Social Security Trust Fund and the Medicare Fund for a range of reasons, they are now compelled to pass a less-than-comprehensive drug program. Too little, too late.

If the Federal Accounting Office released the figures of monies taken out of these trust funds it would be apparent that the workers and employers who contributed to these funds weekly have been seriously ripped off.

Now Congress is creating a public debt that will be passed on to our grandchildren. What it amounts to is that our government has misspent our retirement and created this debt to boot. The solution is for them to stop taking money from these funds and to restore what they have taken. Then there would be ample funding for a much better drug program.

The elderly should send a message by voting against those who have become comfortable with this continued raiding of the Social Security and Medicare funds. It appears that Congress has participated in raiding retirement funds much like private companies have and that isn’t right or fair.

Glyn David Lovely

Presque Isle