Modernize social security

The Democratic Party is uniting with guns drawn to stop the modernization of Social Security. I wonder if Democrats across campus know their party is screwing them over.

Many see Social Security as a safety net that helps people retire comfortably. That may be true for current or future retirees, but our generation won't be very comfortable paying off the $12 trillion required to get the baby boomers through retirement and into their graves. Every American household would have to contribute roughly $473,000 to cover that debt.

Sounds real secure to me.

Democrats say the crisis is merely a Bush scare tactic. Social Security trustees concluded the program's costs will exceed revenue by 2018. But Democrats aren't scared. They know we've been taking in more than we need for Social Security since 1983 to safeguard against such a problem, right?

The government has been spending the surplus on general operations the entire time, which turns this "Trust Fund" into an accounting trick to give the government more money, and we haven't been saving it.

Despite the damning evidence against the current social security system, Democrats are only offering shortsighted solutions. Karen Tumulty and Eric Roston summed up the democratic rationale in a recent Time magazine article.

"There's always the option of ... raising taxes or tinkering with benefits by, for example, raising the retirement age. It's not a permanent solution, but it could add many decades to the life of the program."

The American people deserve a permanent solution, and fixing the problem won't come without costs. The President's plan would create $2 trillion in transitional debt by diverting money away from the system. This is a serious problem, especially considering record deficits and a weakening dollar. But which would you rather pay off: $2 trillion or $12 trillion?

Many think they already have a personal account. After all, we get money taken out of our paychecks for Social Security every week. But that money just goes into a big pool that current retirees draw from. This is redistributing wealth, or socialism, which evokes thoughts of Sweden.

DREW BLAND IS A JUNIOR POLITICAL SCIENCE AND BROADCAST JOURNALISM MAJOR. YOU CAN E-MAIL HIM AT DDBLAND@SYR.EDU