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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: RetiredNow who wrote (215087)	1/16/2005 9:37:36 AM
From: RetiredNow	Respond to of 1575427

UPDATE 2-US agency prepares to sound Social Security alarm Sat Jan 15, 2005 06:56 PM ET (Updates with New York Times report) WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Social Security Administration is set to publicize its financial problems and promote partial privatization of the government pension system as part of a solution, despite the objections of many agency employees, The New York Times reported on Saturday. Agency internal documents include a "tactical plan" for making the case that Social Security is in serious trouble and requires immediate action, the Times said on its Web site. Social Security officials say the agency is carrying out its mission to educate the public, including more than 47 million beneficiaries, and to support the privatization agenda of President George W. Bush, the newspaper reported. But many employees at the Social Security Administration have complained to agency officials of being dragged into a battle over the program's future. They question the accuracy of recent statements by the agency and say that money from the Social Security trust fund should not be used for such advocacy, the Times said. "Trust fund dollars should not be used to promote a political agenda," said Dana Duggins, a vice president of the Social Security Council of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents more than 50,000 of the agency's 64,000 workers and has opposed private accounts. Deborah Fredericksen of Minneapolis, who has worked for the agency for 31 years, told the Times, "Many employees believe that the president and this agency are using scare tactics to promote private accounts." 'MORAL RESPONSIBILITY' Bush insisted on Saturday that the retirement program was in peril and he had a moral responsibility to fix it. "Saving Social Security is an economic challenge. But it is also a profound moral obligation," Bush said in his weekly radio address. He urged quick action by Congress on his proposals to allow individual stock and bond accounts. Democrats said Bush's plan to let workers shift some Social Security payroll taxes into private accounts would drive up government debt and replace a secure program with a risky one. Social Security trustees warn the program will pay out more in benefits than it collects in revenue in 2018. By 2042, the trust fund will be exhausted and tax income will be sufficient to pay only 73 percent of scheduled benefits, they say. Alarming comments by officials about the program heading for bankruptcy have prompted inquiries from the public to Social Security offices. Agency managers said they expect a torrent of phone calls after Bush's inaugural address on Thursday and his State of the Union speech two weeks later. U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow of Michigan said Bush's privatization plan, which is estimated to involve transition costs of $1 trillion to $2 trillion, would worsen deficits. "Our nation already is staggering under the largest budget deficit in the history of the country," she said in the Democratic radio address. "Taking out even more debt could destabilize financial markets, drive up interest rates and stifle economic growth." Unlike two other cases, the government is making its role clear in the Social Security debate. Federal regulators this week said they have opened a probe into whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams violated a ban on "payola" in promoting the Bush administration's education plan. Williams has acknowledged that the Education Department's outside media firm paid $240,000 to a public relations company he owns to promote Bush's "No Child Left Behind" education act during a television show he owned and hosted. Last May a congressional watchdog agency said government video news releases on a new Medicare drug benefit constituted improper use of funds for publicity and propaganda.