Dear Rand Paul & Ted Cruz, WE THE PEOPLE will NEVER allow you to Privatize Social Security!

Dear Rand Paul & Ted Cruz,
WE THE PEOPLE will NEVER allow you to Privatize Social Security!
Even though economists tell us Social Security will be solvent until 2033, Republicans are INSISTENT that Social Security be replaced by a privatized program within the next 10 years. While this would provide a WINDFALL of PROFITS for their Rich, “One Percent” Owners of Private Investment Companies, anyone who has studied Social Security, Retirement Programs and the Baby Boomer demographics knows their privatization recommendation is both ridiculous and heartless.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities reports that for nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of elderly beneficiaries, Social Security provides the majority of their cash income. For more than one-third (36 percent), it provides more than 90 percent of their income. For one-quarter (24 percent) of elderly beneficiaries, Social Security is the sole source of retirement income.

Back in 1980s, four out of five private-sector workers were covered by traditional pensions that paid retirees a fixed monthly benefit based on their salary and length of service once they retired. The majority of employers STOPPED providing pensions in the 1990s. Now, less than one in five workers has a pension, leaving 401(k)s and similar privatized employee funded retirement savings accounts as the primary vehicles for retirees to supplement their Social Security benefits..

These statistics tell us that if the Republican’s recommendation to privatize social security passes and Seniors are left without Social Security or an Employer sponsored Pension Plan, over 65 percent of our Seniors will NOT have enough income to SURVIVE!

There are two major problems with a Privatized replacement to Social Security. They are:

1. Today, the average monthly social security payments are between $1500 - $1800 a month. This means that a retiree would have to save $250,000 - $300,000 in their Privatized replacement to Social Security retirement savings account. Today, fewer than 10% of retirees have saved enough in their PRIVATE 401(k) plans to replace their current projected Social Security payment.

WHY?

2. Because American workers HAVE ACCESS to their PRIVATE Retirement Savings Accounts and are DEPLETING them. More than one in four American workers with a 401(k) and/or other retirement savings accounts are accessing them to pay current expenses. Additionally, this percentage is growing every year. Those in their 40s have been the most likely culprits — one-third are turning to such accounts for relief. This tells us that if Americans have access to their retirement funds, which they will with Private Retirement plans, 25% - 50% will deplete their funds prior to Retirement and over 90% will NOT have sufficient savings to replace the Social Security payments Seniors are receiving today.

I tremble to think what will happen IF the Republicans are successful in ENDING Social Security as we know it and PRIVATIZE and DEMOLISH such a successful SAFETY NET for our Seniors.
WE ALL HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO OUR SENIORS. IT IS PART OF OUR SOCIAL COMPACT. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE DO NOT ALLOW THE GREEDY ONE PERCENT AND THEIR REPUBLICAN GO-FERS TO PRIVATIZE SOCIAL SECURITY. For all of you who love your parents and your Grandparents and yourselves as you grow older – PLEASE don’t allow them to do this!