[Andy from Beaverton]

Congress is solely responsible for the problems with socialIST security.

[Brilliant]

I give George Mitchell primary credit. He's the one who pushed thru the massive unfunded benefit increase in 1987 after Reagan increased taxes to buttress the trust fund in 86.

[Young Werther]

LBJ needed to finance the Viet Nam war and the Social Security trust fund was the answer. By moving it "on budget" in 1966 he made the funds available to all the congress critters to spend as they liked.

[Mark in the Old South]

Don't worry about a crisis. Bush has stumbled across the Shiavo Solution to Social Security.

[pabianice]

AARP knows!

[Politically Correct]

I think that the blame can be safely laid at the feet of FDR

[bahblahbah]

The selfish liberal baby boomers are responsible. These people were part of a baby boom then decided to kill off their offspring which would support them when they were old.

[carlr]

The head of the AARP was on Britt Humes show last Friday and when asked if the system could be fixed by reducing benefits to the middle and upper class he responded that it would be bad because then there might be a disconnect with that segment of the population as to the importance of Social Security.
In other words if you punish those that are financing the system and remove them from dependency on it then his political demagoguery of the program won`t succeed.
I realize those were not his words but that was the effect of what he was saying.
The only thing he supported was non specific revenue(tax)adjustments(increases).

[doctor noe]

Congress is solely responsible for spending SS payroll taxes on discretionary items. The idea that raising the cap will "save" SS is ridiculous...any excess revenue will allow Congress to continue the big spending party. Private accounts are the only way to prevent Congress from getting their grubby little hands on our money.

[DManA]

It isn't just AARP. There's a whole menagerie of organizations riling up oldsters for the purpose of collecting donations. My Mother gets about 5 a week -

SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY..SEND A DONATION OF $100 RIGHT AWAY!!!National Associating of Very Afraid Retired Persons

[Irontank]

"Social Security is the cornerstone of retirement security. For many, it is all that stands between years of dignity and poverty."
AARP CEO William Novelli, Feb 3, 2005


"Abandon your responsibilities, live out a few fantasies, and check a bunch of items off your "To Do Before It's Too Late" list—all in two weeks—in glorious, gorgeous Tahiti"
AARP Magazine, March 30, 2005

[wayoverontheright]

Social Security may indeed be in "crisis", but it is also a tragedy and a travesty.

It's a tragedy when you die before retirement age, and everything you put in belongs to the government. It's a travesty when you do live past retirement, but have to live to age 77 to get a measly 2% return.

[bert]

.....Social Security Crisis: Who's Responsible....

I has to be the feminitsts and American women in general.

By shunning to produce enough children, the decline in the number of workers results in less tax being paid to support the surge in people drawing from the SS system.