It’s Your Choice: You’re on Your Own vs Social Security

Here’s another reason to wonder what this country will look like after a four year John McCain presidency. The issue of Social Securtiy should and will play big for the over 65 crowd now supporting McCain’s run to lead the country. The Boston Globe nails it with this story:

On the 73rd anniversary of the signing of the Social Security act, the Democratic Party is calling on the grandson of the president who launched the program to bash Republican John McCain over it.

James Roosevelt Jr., whose grandfather was Franklin Delano Roosevelt, says in a web ad released by the Democratic National Committee, "It's hard to remember now, but before Social Security, nearly half of America's seniors lived in poverty. After a lifetime of playing by the rules and working hard, there was no guarantee of a secure retirement. My grandfather, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and a majority of Americans thought that was wrong. They believed that lifting our seniors out of poverty is a reflection of our nation's core values. That's why my grandfather signed the Social Security act seventy three years ago today. One of the great successes of the 20th Century, today Social Security lifts nearly 13 million seniors and 1.3 million children out of poverty.”

He then tries (what do they mean by “tries?”)to link McCain to the early opponents of Social Security and to tie him to President Bush's aborted attempts to privatize portions of it.
"Back in 1935, a small minority did not share those values. They opposed the creation of Social Security because they believed that government should not have a role in ensuring a retirement with dignity or helping seniors stay out of poverty. They said, 'You're on your own.' John McCain agrees with that old way of thinking. Like President Bush, he wants to privatize our Social Security, turning it into a gamble with our futures, and making 8.6 million American seniors vulnerable to poverty. John McCain has even said Social Security is 'a disgrace.'

The AFL-CIO also announced plans to hit McCain on Social Security. The union federation said it will send mailers to 50,000 retirees in Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania -- swing voters in battleground states. It says it eventually will contact more than 1 million retirees.

McCain has called for looking at private savings accounts to supplement Social Security. Obama, meanwhile, is proposing to shore up the program by levying additional payroll taxes on those earning more than $250,000 a year. Now the first $102,000 in income for a single taxpayer is taxed.