THE PUBLIC MIND: `KEEP YOUR FINGERS OFF SOCIAL SECURITY'

To the Editor:

~For some reason in the past couple of weeks, our new Democratic administration has come to the conclusion that Social ~Security is out of whack and needs overhauling. They have made such suggestions as withholding the cost of living and raisin~g the age li~mit for new retirees. I suggest that the following~ three thin~gs will solve their problem:

1. Remove Social Security from the budget. The only reason they insist on Social Security remaining in the budget is that the Social Security account shows a large surplus, and by using this large surplus it makes the deficit appear to be $50 billion or $60 billion less than it would otherwise.

2. Let the administration put back into the Social Security the $50 billion to $60 billion they have borrowed from~ this account, plus interest for the time it has been used.

3. Then pass one simple law which would ~make it an impeachable offense for any mem~ber of Congress or Senate to offer any bill that would use any money in the Social Security account for any other purpose tha~n that which Social Security was ~meant for in the first place. In this new law there should also be a clause that would make it an impeachable offense for any president to even su~~ggest that Social Security should be tampered with.

All we are askin~g ~for is that you keep your cotton pickin~g fin~gers off of our money and pay us back what you owe us.

Watis R. Harrell

Chaffee