Skepticism About State of the Union Remarks

As I listened to the State of the Union address Wednesday evening I couldn’t help but wonder how President Bush could talk about protecting the future. Bush has vowed to cut the federal budget deficit by half, but the costs of his war will drive this year’s deficit to $448 billion. The price of overhauling Social Security and making Bush’s first-term tax cuts permanent could cost the government an additional $3.5 trillion by 2015.

As a 27-year-old, I’m not worried about the fate of Social Security; it’s going strong and with responsible changes it can continue to do so indefinitely. I’m worried about the fate of this country.

The money to pay for Bush’s grand plans to privatize Social Security and make the tax cuts permanent has to come from somewhere. What’s at stake are the programs that would truly protect our future, like investments in programs to improve the health, education and the well-being of children.

Samantha West

Santa Monica

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Bush must figure that if manufacturing a bogus crisis can get us to invade Iraq, he can do it again on Social Security. This time it’s the specter of Social Security bankruptcy. In the State of the Union address, he said [that in 2027] “the government will somehow have to come up with an extra $200 billion to keep the system afloat.” What a snake oil salesman!

This shortfall he describes can be true only if the U.S. Treasury defaults on its debt obligations to the Social Security trust fund. This is the same type of debt that finances Bush’s irresponsible deficit spending.

If the Treasury doesn’t meet its obligations to its creditors, then the government will have a lot bigger problem than Social Security.

Peter J. Burgis

Carson

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Re private Social Security accounts: Fast-forward 50 years from now.

Dear Kids: All those investments we made in our private Social Security accounts didn’t do so well. We’ll be moving in with you next week. Love, Mom and Dad

If today’s new workers think their private investments will provide them with a dream retirement, they might want to consider the downside as well.

Paula Taylor

San Diego