Congress Must Make Difficult Choices

Dear Editor:

In this morning’s piece, A lonely voice in Congress, you are correct that Congress must address unpopular realities and make very difficult choices.

This Congress is on a spending spree – from $400 billion for Medicare to the projected $820 billion omnibus appropriations package recently passed by the House. I applaud Wisconsin’s delegation for voting against the budget package.

But more importantly, your board addresses a key component to curtailing some of the discretionary spending and unfunded liabilities. Privatization. The recent Medicare legislation marginally addresses the problem of modernization, and the Health Savings Accounts are long overdue. But more importantly, the issue of Social Security can no longer be treated as the third rail in politics.

Modernization of Social Security with Personal Retirement Accounts offers a renewal of the promise America has made to its retirees. Worker ownership over a portion of their FICA taxes would generate dynamic effects on the economy that would range from increased personal savings to greater investment in the economy; increasing corporate revenues and thereby increasing government revenue without raising current taxes, the retirement age, or cutting benefits would transform Social Security from a decrepit, unfunded liability to a self-sustaining, modern program.

A recent Gallup poll showed that 64 percent of Americans favored some sort of PRA, and even the Chief Actuary at the Social Security Administration scored an aggressive privatization plan and declared that it would meet or exceed the current level of benefits.

Let’s make sure Congress and the candidates realize this.

J. Cameron Sholty
Wisconsin State Director
Citizens for a Sound Economy