Retirees to McCain: Don’t Destroy Social Security

by Seth Michaels, Jun 26, 2008

John McCain arrived in Henderson, Nev., yesterday, and was met by people asking for answers on the issues that really affect them. (Wherever he goes, union members are there to greet him and ask him to define his position on key working family issues.)

Organized by the Alliance for Retired Americans, seniors came out to ask McCain to protect Social Security, not undermine it.

McCain has spent the campaign season giving mixed messages on Social Security, the nation’s most successful social safety net, but the record is clear: He has supported privatizing Social Security. He’s voted in the Senate for privatizing this crucial retirement program and he campaigned alongside George Bush  

In public appearances, McCain has denied he would privatize Social Security—yet he also expressed support for the idea in a Wall Street Journal interview earlier this year.  Privatizing Social Security would fundamentally undermine the program, removing  guaranteed benefits for retirees and people with disabilities. It wouldn’t help protect the program’s solvency.Scott Watts, president of the Nevada Alliance for Retired Americans, said McCain’s views on Social Security would leave retirees less secure.

Social Security benefits would be thrown to the whims of the stock market under the Bush-McCain scheme. We get all the risk while Wall Street gets all the reward.

Retirees around the country are turning out at McCain’s events to give him a clear message: Don’t undermine our Social Security.

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