Young workers balk at plan for Social Security

BANGOR – The soon-to-be-retired are not the only ones with a stake in President Bush’s proposal to slow down the growth of Social Security benefits for future retirees and offer private accounts to others.

A group of twentysomethings representing the Maine People’s Alliance said Thursday they are concerned, too. They claimed the Social Security system is predicated on keeping a promise for the next generation and that the program should be a safety net, not a risky investment.

The Maine People’s Alliance, a citizens’ group with 22,000 members and three offices in Maine, held a press conference Thursday at its Bangor office on State Street in part to unveil a new study by the Institute for America’s Future, a Washington D.C.-based public policy organization.

The study – one of the first state-specific analyses of the president’s plan – predicted the average Maine worker earning $29,736 a year who chooses a private account and retires in 2080 would stand to lose $126,562 over the course of their retirement.

“[The president’s plan] really is designed to dismantle Social Security as we know it,” Maine People’s Alliance Associate Director Jesse Graham, 29, said Thursday. “It’s going to expose Social Security, which is really a safety net, to risky stock market investments.”

Roy Lenardson, a senior policy analyst with the Portland-based conservative public policy group, Maine Heritage Policy Center, countered that the alliance’s study is patently flawed. The study assumes an average return of 4.35 percent on private accounts when the historical average is closer to 7 percent, he said.

“[The study] completely disregards the fact that lower income people are exempt from the plan,” Lenardson continued. “They talk as if nothing is going to happen if Social Security stays the same, but they’re wrong.

“The Democrats are criticizing the president’s plan, but where is their plan?”

President Bush unveiled his Social Security plan during an April 28 press conference, and has made it clear that overhauling Social Security will be a key part of his second-term agenda.

Official Social Security estimates predict that annual benefit costs will begin to exceed payroll tax income beginning in 2017, and the trust fund will be depleted in 2041. At that point, the government would be obliged to cut benefits for all recipients.

Many polls have indicated that most Americans think Social Security needs change but support for privatization generally has been weak, particularly in Maine – a state with a large percentage of residents who are retired or headed in that direction.

The Maine People’s Alliance already has begun its summer canvassing tour to educate state residents about Social Security. Adam Goode, 21, of Bangor, the co-director of the tour, said the support for the door-to-door campaign is strong and that most Mainers overwhelmingly oppose privatization.

“President Bush is really pushing this plan on younger people to invest in Social Security, and we’re here to say that young people do oppose the president’s plan,” Goode said.

Lenardson called the Institute for America’s Future “a big front group for the unions,” which have been particularly vocal about privatization.

The Maine People’s Alliance also used Thursday’s conference to call upon U.S. Sen. Susan Collins to take a stand on the issue, which MPA members say she has yet to do.

“The president is proposing dismantling the most important and successful social program ever conceived and we really think it’s the least [Collins] can do to take a stand,” Graham said.

Collins has continually said she is open to considering all options for retooling Social Security but hasn’t been definitive on her stance, because there is nothing to support or reject at this point, according to Jen Burita, spokeswoman for Sen. Collins. Burita added that Collins has met with several Maine groups to discuss the future of Social Security.