Sponsored By The 60 Plus Association

August 14, 2001; HC-5, U.S. Capitol; 2:30 p.m.
Contact: Hugh Newton 703.807.2070

Excerpted remarks by 60 Plus President Jim Martin

Washington, DC– The head of the first national senior citizens organization to call for a major overhaul of the Social Security system today urged Congress to “move boldly into the 21st century to save Social Security for future retirees.”

60 Plus Association President Jim Martin hosted his group’s 5th annual forum on the 66th anniversary of the system signed into law on this date in 1935 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

While the pay as you go system worked well for more than 40 years, the shifting demographics have put it on a collision course with reality.

Look at the facts. It started in 1935 with a 2% tax on $3000 income, a mere $60 per year, which was paid by approximately 40 workers to support each retiree. However, seniors, as it has been indelicately described, ‘conveniently died’ at about 65, thus there was no real financial need to increase the 2% tax.

Fast forward to today where the tax has increased to 12.4% on up to $80,400, extracting as much as a whopping $9,969.60 from each worker. But now instead of 40 wage earners paying as much as that amount to support each retiree, only an average of three income earners provide these revenues because of the dramatic drop in the birth rate. That amount would be enough if we seniors still ‘conveniently died’ at about age 65.

Instead seniors are living well into their 70’s, 80’s, 90’s and beyond. My favorite senior, my mom, is in her mid-80’s and my second favorite senior, my stepfather, is a tri-centurion, born in the 19th century and who’s lived through the entire 20th century and this September 25 will, God willing, celebrate his 102nd birthday in the 21st century!

In a nutshell, that causes today’s financial strain on the system.

Some 20 years ago, Dr. Jose Pinera fathered the current program in Chile which allows fund managers to invest a portion of their taxes in the name of individual workers, a program which more than 90% have joined voluntarily.

More than a dozen countries in South America, Europe, and Asia have adopted, or are in the process of adopting, a Chilean-style plan. Even socialist Sweden is going that route and communist China, too.

60 Plus says it’s long past time for the U.S. to follow suit and move into the 21st century. Let’s stop scaring seniors for political gain. If seniors are assured that Social Security is there for them, they’ll be the first to say ‘let’s roll up our sleeves and fix the system for future retirees, our children and grandchildren!

When I came to Washington in 1962 as a young newspaper reporter, John F. Kennedy was in the White House (and I covered that tragic moment in our history, November 22, 1963), Neil Armstrong had yet to walk on the moon, Strom Thurmond was still a Democrat and only Barry Goldwater seemed to perceive the looming crisis facing Social Security.

The Arizona Senator was 30 years ahead of his time and now responsible members of Congress on both sides of the aisle are working to craft a plan to save Social Security for the future.

President George W. Bush is the very first White House occupant ever to have the courage to take this issue head-on.

He refused the ‘head in the sand, there’s no problem’ approach, and he’s fulfilling his campaign promise to work to save Social Security for future generations. Senior Citizens applaud the President for having the courage of his convictions.

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