Citizens discuss Social Security
Guest speaker Kelly Olsen promotes current plan

By Deneesha Edwards
Hendersonville Times-News, 6/17/05

A trend today is to wear colorful rubber band bracelets -- yellow or pink -- that stand for cancer survivor or strength.

On Tuesday, some residents were wearing red bracelets with "I love Social Security" on them. Others pinned buttons to their shirts that read "Strengthen It. Don't destroy it. No Private accounts carved out of Social Security. AARP."

These folks were at a Town Hall Forum on the future of Social Security sponsored by the Henderson County Democratic Party.

Social Security is one of the hottest topics being debated today. Months ago President Bush proposed that the best way to reach the goal of making the Social Security system a better deal for younger workers is through voluntary personal retirement accounts.

The guest speaker at the forum was Kelly Olsen, a former policy analyst at the Social Security administration's Office of Retirement Policy in Washington, D.C., and former assistant director for the Social Security research program at the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Olsen said her goal for the night was to assure people that Social Security is not really about the best way to provide retirement income to ordinary Americans. It is about what is best for upper-income Americans and the financial services industry, she said.

"I'm for the traditional way of Social Security," Olsen said. "Some benefits need to be cut, but people don't want to hear about cutting benefits. It is worth it in the long run. Social Security is for disability workers and retirement for the young and old. It is not welfare; it only rewards with work experience."

Bush says his plan to restructure Social Security would improve the program's long-term stability without shrinking the retirement income of older Americans. His plan for private accounts has created a debate nationwide.

Olsen compared individual accounts to Social Security today to show which one was more efficient and more secure.

She told the group of more than 70 residents at the forum that preserving Social Security in its current form is the surest, most affordable, most efficient and most prudent thing to do.

She said that under Bush's plan, millions of middle-income workers would receive little or no traditional Social Security benefits in retirement. They would largely be left with only their private account.

Bush's solutions to fixing Social Security include limiting benefits for wealthy retirees, indexing benefits to prices rather than wages, increasing the retirement age, discouraging early collection of retirement benefits and changing the way benefits are calculated.

Eva Ritchey, chairwoman of the Henderson County Democratic Party and an environmental and transportation activist, also spoke in support of older Americans retaining a higher standard of living with retirement.

"Two-thirds depend on Social Security for their income. Without Social Security 50 percent will live in poverty," Ritchey said. "In Henderson County 41,783 residents receive Social Security benefits. That's half of the county's population."

Ritchey said she wanted to educate and inform people about how important Social Security is for everyone.

"The more you know, the more you can see that Social Security is not just a petition," she said. "It is a risk-free program."

Some at the forum were disappointed not to hear the Republicans' side of the issue.

"There was only one party here; both parties need to be here to get the problem solved," said Jim Tinkler, a Democrat from Laurel Park. "We need to change this monologue to a dialogue."

Retiree Barbara Neal, a Democrat, said she wished the Republicans had attended.

"I learned about a program that works well and is being challenged. Social Security should not change because it has worked so well," she said.

Ritchey said the Republican side was invited, but party officials declined to attend the forum, her second attempt to draw county Republicans into the Social Security debate.

In a telephone interview Thursday, Henderson County Republican Party Chairman Spence Campbell said, "the Republican Party is more interested in local issues and focus on getting Republicans to vote to ensure that we have the best candidates for office locally."