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 Bridget Barrett for Newsweek Carpenter: Wondering if Bush really has her best interests at heart |
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Feb. 4 - Two years ago, my parents started collecting their Social Security checks, thereby confirming what I had always thought them to be: old. When they talked to me about the need to save for my future, I'd just roll my eyes and turn up my stereo.
Me, I was never going to be old.
College is a bubble of youthful idealism, nurturing the naive belief that young is forever, old is for parents. Several semesters and dozens of weekends separate most of us from entering the workforce, so how can we be expected to comprehend retirement? We see the money deducted from our part-time jobs that allows our grandparents to retire to Florida, but we never think for a moment that when we get that age, we won't be able to retire in style—or at all.
But this is the picture President Bush painted for us in his assault on our Social Security system at a White House forum last Tuesday and in his State of the Union address on Wednesday.
"If you're 20 years old, in your mid-20s, and you're beginning to work, I want you to think about a Social Security system that will be flat bust, bankrupt, unless the United States Congress has got the willingness to act now," Bush told the forum, using his usual rhetoric of impending doom.
I went in search of student opinion here at Michigan State with the intention of keeping politics and Social Security reform separate. We are, after all, talking about the financial future of generations to come, not something that should be decided on a partisan whim. But, to neglect the politics involved ultimately skews the whole issue, because anything that involves allocating resources automatically becomes political. And as an inherent cynic about all politicians, I can't help but wonder if Bush truly has the best interest of my generation in mind. Through four years of his administration, he has barely acknowledged our needs and now he wants to save us from a threat looming a half century away? I can't help but be a little skeptical.
Megan Connor, 21, a self-proclaimed Kerry supporter way back when, takes a more optimistic approach. She's happy Bush has taken notice of what she feels is an important issue, even though the shortfall isn't set to kick in for at least a decade after Bush leaves office.
However, she is concerned that our generation isn't prepared for what Bush has proposed. For those of us not financially savvy and clueless when it comes to investing, "it's going to be guesswork," she says.
Andrew Bell, 21, shares the same anxiety. "People in general have a pretty Short-term outlook," he said, adding he would be willing to pay more now to keep the current system because it would be "one less thing I have to worry about."
Both Connor and Bell are seniors studying constitutional democracy and political theory, a major which inevitably lends to their informed and enthusiastic views. But it seems Social Security is an issue that comes up in most circles on campus, especially in the past week. Almost everyone I spoke to made some reference to "a recent conversation" regarding the issue.
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