Social Security

Robert J. Samuelson, who penned “The Baby Boom Will Bust Us” (Nov. 26,), is described as a writer “about economic issues from Washington.” Samuelson is either grossly misinformed about the Social Security system or is consciously attempting to undermine that very valuable government program.

Samuelson begins by calling on Bill Clinton and Al Gore to “prepare for the retirement of their own generation.” Those preparations were made in 1983, when Congress significantly increased the Social Security payroll tax. Social Security was shifted from a “pay-as-you-go” financing scheme to one that is currently accumulating enormous surpluses for baby boomers’ retirements: $74 billion in 1991 to a projected peak of $12 trillion in the year 2030.

The persistent federal deficits are attributable not to Social Security payments, but rather to reductions in the personal and corporate income tax rates made since 1981, coupled with continued high levels of military spending. If it weren’t for surpluses in the Social Security trust funds, the federal deficit would be about 25% higher than it is.

Finally, Samuelson suggests that “government aid should go more to those who need it and less to the old as a group.” The experience of both the U.S. and Western Europe in the past half-century has clearly been that, in order to be successful, social welfare programs must be available to all, regardless of income level. If upper-and middle-income wage earners abandon the Social Security system in favor of IRAs and private pension plans, Samuelson and his ilk will simply have a politically easier task in cutting benefits to the poor. Social Security’s demise would end up harming all but the wealthiest Americans.

J. KEVIN CROSS

La Jolla