Dear Editor,
I know millions of people who are on Social Security are worried about the outcome that DOGE will create with its cut to Social Security.
To get a full understanding of what is taking place with the agency you need a historical view of the agency. As it was being created and signed into law in 1935, many Republicans and individual were fighting against it tooth and nail. They actually formed a group similar to the current PACs in existence.
Once passed, it immediately began improving the lives of many seniors. The issue was "social" equated to socialism. That played into the psychic of the average Republican as more and more groups of people became eligible for the entitlement. In fact, if my reading memory serves me correctly, the military became the last group to be included into the system.
In 1984 Reagan convinced congress to tax social security benefits up to 85% of yearly entitlements. It was prorated by not exceeding a certain number of total incomes. By 2005, Bush tried to "privatize" social security, but he found that behind the Post Office the Social Security Administration was the most popular federal government agency.
So, fast forward to now and the push to make the agency so weak that it will breakdown. and also place demands on seniors, disabled and survivors that are way so hard that you will believe Republicans when they say you need to privatize it. Look, all this talk for the past 30 years that the Trust fund will be broke in a few years doesn't make sense if you're stating this and saying it needs to be privatized.
Don't be fooled, they're easy fixes and 2.7 TRILLION in the current Trust fund is not exactly broke. See, the billionaires want to manage that money. You could actually make billions on the fees to manage that amount of money, whether the market goes up or down. Currently, there are over 71 million recipients of either retirement payments, disability payments and survivor benefits. Why would you try to capitalize on something that conducts and provides one of the basic principles of a sound government, that is providing for the welfare of its citizens.
Orman Knox
Winona, Miss.
