United Methodist Women address Social Security issues
7/17/2001 News media contact: Linda Bloom · (646) 369-3759 · New York By Kelly Martini* NEW YORK (UMNS) - When U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill recently promoted President Bush's plan to add private investment accounts to Social Security, he said the current program has no real assets for future retirees.
But the 1 million-member United Methodist Women, working in cooperation with the Older Women's League, has a different opinion, and its members are writing letters to congressional representatives around the country. While many of the letter writers believe in improvements to the system, they say that privatization of Social Security is not the answer.
The letter-writing campaign, which began at the organization's Regional Schools of Christian Mission, continues in conference schools and local units throughout the summer.
Women constitute 60 percent of Social Security beneficiaries over the age of 65, and 72 percent of recipients over 85, according to the Older Women's League. Without Social Security benefits, half of these women would fall into poverty.
Privatizing Social Security ignores the work patterns of women, who take an average of 14 years out of the paid work force to care for children, aging parents and spouses. During their years of caregiving, they are not vesting in a pension or increasing their earning power. So, upon retirement, they often depend almost solely on Social Security.
Julie Taylor, an executive with the Women's Division, United Methodist Board of Global Ministries, noted that financial analysts and politicians often speak about retirement in terms of a three-legged stool.
"They say you should plan to live on your Social Security, pension and savings. But because of lower wages and work patterns of women, pensions and savings are often minimal or nonexistent," she said. "More than a quarter of women over the retirement age rely on Social Security for 90 percent of their income."
Social Security is more than a safety net for many women and minorities who are low-wage earners. If Social Security is privatized, they won't have wages to invest. If they do invest some wages, a volatile stock market could wipe out their investments.
"Besides helping older women, Social Security is an insurance system for divorced women, widows, children and people with disabilities. Privatizing Social Security eliminates this safety net and could leave many people spiraling toward poverty," Taylor said.
"It's part of our Christian responsibility to advocate with these women for a social insurance system that is fair for everyone, not just those who are able to invest and do it well," she added.
Investment companies, in particular, will fare well if Social Security is privatized, and Wall Street companies plan on launching a multimillion-dollar ad campaign to urge for privatization, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The AFL-CIO has argued that if Social Security is privatized, the common person will lose money, but Wall Street will gain more than $240 billion in the first 12 years.
Taylor concedes that the Social Security system is far from perfect, but there are ways to improve it without taking away safety nets for women and others.
Suggestions from the Older Women's League to improve the system include:
· using general revenues to meet obligations through the year 2038;
· having all wage bases subject to payroll tax and credited for benefit calculations; and
· investing 40 percent of the Trust Fund in stocks, similar to private pension plans, so that there are shared risks and shared benefits for Social Security.
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*Martini is executive secretary of communications for the Women's Division.
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