LETTERS: PLAN IS A SOCIAL WELFARE PROGRAM

To the editor:

In an April 10 letter, Gilbert Degenhardt proposes what others have similarly proposed as a solution to the problems of Social Security. Mr. Degenhardt's proposal essentially would change the Social Security program from a retirement-investment fund into a social welfare program by taxing all income rather than limiting it to normal working-family wages.

In essence, Mr. Degenhardt proposes that high-income earners invest in a retirement plan whose payout is guaranteed to be less than the investment made. I know of no investor who would willingly enroll in such a plan, but the government has the capability to force such a plan onto its citizens.

While this would provide more capital for the trust fund, it ignores the greater problem. The trust fund is in the hands of untrustworthy politicians who have seen the fund as a windfall. They have robbed it to fund questionable programs designed to buy votes and influence at the expense of the working-class investors who have been fooled into believing that their money is securely invested for their retirement.

The truth of the situation is that there is no shortage of income into the trust fund but an excessive outflow from it. Had the Social Security taxes been properly invested from the start, the fund could likely be paying dividends in the form of tax-rate reductions to the citizens who are invested in the program. Privatization is one possible solution to this. Another important item, which was fought for by the late Congressman Bill Emerson, is to take Social Security off budget in order to prevent congressional number-crunchers from using the trust fund to hide the true reality of the budget shortages. Without Social Security, there would be no budget surplus, and with Social Security off budget, there would be no Social Security shortage. Let us not further reduce Social Security to the level of a welfare program, designed to rob from the rich and give to the poor. We should all be free to invest our money in a retirement program which will offer us the best return for our investment. If Mr. Degenhardt has difficulty believing or understanding this, he should ask any financial consultant.

SHAPLEY R. HUNTER

Tamms, Ill.