Don't delay fight on social security woes

News reports say Social Security benefits will go up in 2009 by 5.8 percent, the most in 25 years.

Many people may applaud this as a boon to senior citizens at a time when the economy is down and purchasing power is suffering because of high prices. But where is the money going to come from?

Once again, we will be digging further into the Social Security surplus; (which exists only on paper) to invent more money to pay such benefits. And the real cost will again be pushed onto the present and next generation of younger wage earners.

We may think of the current recession in the economy, caused by the turbulence in the financial and housing markets, as the greatest crisis since the Great Depression. It's serious, but we're fooling ourselves if we think solving this is the end of our problems.

We, and all politicians, keep ignoring the elephant in the room: the looming future costs of Social Security and Medicare - unless we make some fundamental and drastic changes right now. But who's got the incentive?

Talking about changes in Social Security has long been the demise of sensible politicians because senior citizens vote and younger people don't.

The AARP argues along with others that "all is well" with Social Security and it only needs little tweaks to stay solvent in the future.

Balderdash.

The program was created with the assumptions of a small percentage of retirees compared to a large percentage of working people to pay the necessary taxes, and a far shorter life span. But for years now we've been retiring earlier, living longer, and paying larger and larger seniors' medical expenses from Medicare.

It can't survive without becoming a crushing burden on our children and grandchildren, but we do nothing, because we don't want to be the group to "lose" anything.

Kent Schielke

Naperville