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Press Release

Latino Youth Rule out Privatization - Offer Varied Ideas for Social Security’s Solvency
The 2005 LULAC Washington Youth Seminar Futuro Seguro The Future of Social Security 

October 3, 2005, Contact: Charles Tamez, (202) 835-9685

Washington DC- 50 Latino student leaders from all over the country met last Wednesday during the LULAC Washington Youth Leadership Seminar to discuss the future of Social Security. The young leaders concluded that the Bush Administration's proposals for creating private accounts would not address the concerns or problems faced by the system, nor would they contribute to the solvency of Social Security. For the past 70 years Social Security has worked for millions of Americans. The students have stated that members of Congress should work to strengthen and improve the current system, and ensure its solvency and survival for all generations of Americans.  

Attached is a list of statements on Social Security developed by the young leaders in their conference last week.

The 2005 LULAC Washington Youth Seminar
Futuro Seguro: The Future of Social Security
Participant Position Paper 9/28/05

 On Wednesday, September 28, 2005, 53 outstanding young Hispanic leaders met during the LULAC Washington Youth Leadership Seminar to discuss the future of the Social Security program.  After an intensive discussion the students adopted the following positions as representative of their views: 

• Social Security Works:  We believe that Social Security has been one of the most successful Federal programs ever created. For the past 70 years, Social Security has ensured millions of elderly Americans have a secure retirement. Nevertheless, we believe that the program does have some flaws that need mending and we encourage members from both parties of Congress to work together to strengthen and improve program.

• Hispanics Rely on Social Security:  Elderly Hispanics rely more on social security than other retirees because they have fewer assets and often have no other retirement savings. Fewer Hispanics have access to employment-based retirement programs such as pensions and 401K plans. For many retired Latinos Social Security is their only safety net keeping them out of poverty. 

• Privatization is not the Answer: While we like the concept of having a portion of our payroll taxes going to an account that the government will not be able to borrow from, we do not believe that creating private carve out accounts is feasible because of the huge transition costs and our concern that these accounts will benefit wealthy individuals at the expense of lower income Americans. Our pay as you go system has worked for 70 years and can continue to work if Congress acts now to address the long term solvency issue. 

• Hispanic Immigrants Contribute to the Long Term Solvency of Social Security:  Hispanic immigrants have helped to strengthen social security by increasing the number of workers supporting today’s retirees. Undocumented immigrants currently pay billions into the system, but rarely get any benefits in return. We believe that comprehensive immigration reform could help strengthen the long term solvency of Social Security by bringing in more workers to help pay for retiring baby boomers. 

• Solvency Can Best Be Attained Through a Combination of Benefit Cuts and Tax Increases:  A majority of us felt that the long term solvency of Social Security can best be attained through a combination of benefit cuts and payroll tax increases. Extending the age of retirement, increasing the amount of salary subject to the payroll tax up to $150,000 and indexing benefits to inflation rather than wages combined with modest increases in the payroll tax rate will ensure the long term solvency of Social Security. 

• Social Security’s Long Term Solvency is of Paramount Importance to Future Generations: How Congress addresses Social Security today will have tremendous ramifications for our generation. If Congress does nothing to address the long term solvency of Social Security, the program will be unable to provide full benefits starting in 2042. On the other hand, proposed solutions that add to our deficit will have to be paid back by our generation as well. We call upon Congress to act now and make the tough decisions now so that Americans of all ages are called upon to contribute to the solution.   

• Congress Should Encourage More Retirement Savings in Addition to Social Security: While Social Security has been successful as a safety net program for our nation’s elderly, in reality most Americans should be saving more for their retirement than they currently are. We believe that Congress should require employers to offer their full time workers access to retirement savings programs in addition to Social Security. 

• Social Security should Remain Progressive: We believe that lower income Americans should continue to receive a proportionally higher return from Social Security than higher income Americans. 

• Increased Investment in Education will Strengthen Social Security: We believe that strengthening education in the United States will simultaneously contribute to the long term solvency of social security because higher education raises income and increases payroll tax revenue.

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