To the editor:

I have a new thought, at least to me, and for those particularly of a younger generation who may have mixed feelings about the president’s Social Security plans: Social Security is a social insurance program providing basic economic security for everyone who contributes. Quoting from a recent newsletter of the Friends Committee on National Legislation, “It is there for each of us and our dependents when we need it. In 2004, it provided benefits to 48 million people, including retirees, survivors and 8 million people living with disabilities. Without this basic income security, over 50 percent of women and 40 percent of men over age 65 would likely be living in poverty. Survivor benefits support more than 5 million children.”

People under 50 need to think not only about their own retirement years ago but also about what Social Security does to relieve them of some of their obligations to care for and support their own parents and grandparents when the time comes for them to do so. Social Security and its well-established programs are a double asset for the general public, for the young as well as the old. Many articles in the national press, for example, the AARP Bulletin, explain several major options for “saving” our basic Social Security program. Many people in my generation regard the GI Bill program after World War II as another example of collective social action that strengthened our nation in innumerable ways. And we seniors also remember what it was like for families before Social Security.

Howard J. Baumgartel,

Lawrence