By Barry Dalin
It’s a sad reality of our times that young people do not know much about Social Security and its benefits. For the average young person, retirement is either too far off to think about, or a luxury they don’t believe they will be afforded. Ask most college-age students their thoughts on Social Security and you might get a “Social Security won’t be around by the time I retire” response.
Perhaps most troubling is the fact that these younger workers are set to face the greatest burden from any future changes to Social Security. To combat this apathy and reenergize the youth, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) held an educational forum titled, “Engaging Younger Generations in Social Security Debates” in their Washington, DC office on Wednesday.
Celinda Lake of Lake Research Partners began by summarizing research for the audience that evaluates youth’s opinion on Social Security and other retirement issues. The key findings of her research suggest that young people actually are worried about Social Security’s future, and they do feel very strongly about keeping it intact as a means of retirement security. According to Lake’s study, 6 in 10 voters under the age of 30 strongly oppose cutting Social Security to fix America’s deficit woes.
Moreover, Lake noted that across all age groups, roughly two-thirds of voters favored eliminating the $106,800 cap on taxable income for Social Security, a policy many respondents referred to as a “loophole” and not a cap.
Dr. Teresa Ghilarducci, Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Insurance, debunked the myth that retirement programs reduce the share of public expenditures geared towards the youth. Through a comprehensive, comparative analysis, Dr. Ghilarducci concluded that in wealthy nations, there is a positive correlation between expenditures on the young and the old. This means that in the U.S, every 10 percent increase in spending on the young results in a similar 7% increase on programs for the elderly (as a share of GDP). This statistic boldly challenges those in Congress who believe we must reprioritize which constituencies receive publicly funded social services.
Kathryn Anne Edwards, an EPI Research Assistant & author of A Young Persons Guide to Social Security brought the discussion full-circle by redefining how best to talk about Social Security with younger generations. Above all else, Edwards reminded the audience that Social Security kept 20.5 million people out of poverty in 2009 alone, 6.5 million of which were children. Edwards emphasized Social Security is not just a retirement program, it is a program that provides critical support to widows and children. This, she stressed, goes to the crux of Social Security, as it acts as a critical safety net that protects people against the ever-increasing economic uncertainty of our times.
The general consensus amongst the panelists pointed to a dire need for Congress to strengthen, not cut Social Security. With unemployment rates through the roof and private pension plans being thrown out the window, younger generations will need Social Security more than ever.
Through good times and bad, Social Security has consistently been there to protect the most vulnerable. In essence, with only a little explanation, Social Security can sell itself. This was on full display at the forum where it took only a couple Power Point presentations for the young people in the room to realize the importance of Social Security and get angry over certain proposals being thrown around in Congress. Now is the time to tap into this energy to unite the young and old to take a stand against irresponsible cuts to Social Security.
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