By Staff
Our View
President Bush's plan for social security reform is unpopular with Democrat's and many members of the Republican Party due to the way it is being presented, Senior Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee Charles Rangel said.
"If the president is going around the country saying that if you are older than 55, there will be no benefit cuts, What they (Republican lawmakers) are hearing back home is that if you are 55 or younger, you are guaranteed benefit cuts."
According to various reports this is what many people in the rest of the nation are hearing as well. One poll by the Pew Research Center showed that as public awareness of the plan has grown, support for that plan has begun to fall off.
Based on the last census only about 27 percent of the population of Atmore would be unaffected by the benefit cuts.
If the plan passed at least 73 percent of us would be forced to either place some of our funds in a number of risky accounts in the hopes that they might draw enough money to support us in our later years, or face guaranteed limitation of benefits.
Bush is right in trying to find a solution for a social security plan that is bleeding money far faster than it is receiving it. But this is not the solution.
Even Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan does not believe this is the right solution. Though he does feel allowing individuals to add personal accounts to social security is a good plan he stated Wednesday that the rest of the plan would not likely work.
Bush's plan is not right for America and it's not right for Atmore