Social Security ‘Trust Fund’

The subhead of Paul S. Hewitt’s Jan. 26 commentary, “Abolish the ‘Trust Fund’ That Isn’t,” was, “We pay for today’s retirees. Tomor- row’s workers will pay for us.”

So what! Social Security has been operating successfully this way for more than 50 years, and it will continue to work this way in the future. Further, any attempt to revise this system will require today’s workers to pay for both current retirees’ Social Security and their own.

The Social Security system is sound in every respect. If Hewitt has an ideological opposition to social insurance, he should argue this rather than raising the red herring of the trust fund.

ROBERT FRANG

Santa Monica

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Hooray! I’ve waited 62 years for this. Someone has finally pointed out, correctly and in print, that there is no money in the Social Security Trust Fund. I still remember, about 1935, waiting for the media to publish information on the exact details of Social Security, and wondering whether FDR would be honest and put our money into genuine investments, or would just spend it, create a phony trust fund to supposedly put the money into and force the payouts onto subsequent generations of taxpayers. When the latter trust fund system was finally announced, I, even as a teenager, knew FDR was simply stealing our FICA payments from us.

If you or I ran a Ponzi scheme like Social Security, we’d go to jail. At least I’m under no illusion that I’m “entitled” to my Social Security check or Medicare. The money I put in is long gone and your and my children are paying for both. If people in our government had any sense and guts they would cancel Social Security right now.

JOHN HAMAKER

Laguna Niguel