Strengthen Social Security - Don't Cut It

This web site, Strengthen Social Security is full of resources for those interested in Social Security matters. Importantly, it features an on line petition one can sign in less than a minute. The petition reads as follows:

Dear Speaker Boehner:

Social Security belongs to the people who have worked hard all their lives and contributed to it. Social Security is a promise that must not be broken. If you pay in, then you earn the right to benefits for yourself, your spouse and your dependent children when you retire, experience a severe disability, or die.

We need to strengthen Social Security, not cut it. That is why I oppose any cuts to Social Security benefits, including increasing the retirement age. I also oppose any effort to privatize Social Security, in whole or in part.

We support the petition and plan to visit the web site often. It has an active blog and provides facts about the program. For example:

The projected point at which the combined Trust Funds will be exhausted comes in 2036 per the SSA Trustees 2011 Annual Report to Congress. And, the Disability Insurance Trust Fund will not run out of money in 2018. Money will be reallocated from the Retirement Trust Fund to the DI Trust Fund.

Now is the time to ask our legislators to stick to facts, not speculation and to act in unity for a program that is integral to the American public. This means also supporting those in the House and Senate who continue to advocate for strengthening Social Security. If we sincerely care about the future we are leaving our children, we would not delay and/or deprive them of the simple trust generations have held. This is not a "hand out" it is a decent tenet of democracy - you pay in and you receive benefits for disability and protection for retirement.