8-15-08, 10:10 am

Social Security turned 73 yesterday, Aug. 14th. That's two years older than John McCain, a beneficiary of Social Security who receives close to $2,000 per month from the program, despite recently describing it as 'an absolute disgrace.' But if McCain has his way and becomes president, Social Security would be dead by the end of his administration.

In a July townhall forum, McCain expressed his dislike for the program, saying, 'Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.'

As his voting record shows, McCain supports privatization of the program, leaving retirees and the disabled as well as future retirees dependent on the whims and unpredictability of the market. If current beneficiaries relied on the market for their retirement income, they would have lost their shirts as a result of the recent economic troubles.

McCain's proposal is an exact replica of the Bush plan that failed to pass in Congress in 2003 and in 2005. As reported in the Wall Street Journal last March, McCain said, 'I believe that private savings accounts are a part of it – along the lines of what President Bush proposed. I campaigned in support of President Bush's proposal and I campaigned with him, and I did town hall meetings with him.'

In 2006, McCain voted for the Social Security Reserve Fund, a Republican Party proposal that would shift Social Security's annual surpluses over to private investment companies – many of the same people who brought you the subprime mortgage crisis and the credit crunch, not to mention the dot.com bubble, oil speculation, and the Enron fiasco – and turned into risky private accounts.

In 2005, McCain supported a Social Security plan that could require deep benefit cuts or a massive increase in debt. That same year McCain voted against legislation that would prioritize Social Security solvency over tax cuts for the wealthy. And, in 1998 McCain voted twice to replace Social Security's guaranteed benefits with income from risk-based private investments.

McCain also pushes the faulty notion that Social Security is in an immediate financial crisis, though the Social Security Trust Fund managers and other independent observers repeatedly have shown that the program will be financially solvent for decades to come. Ignoring these fact, McCain pushes ahead with his claim, insisting that cutting benefits is the only way to 'save it' as well as balance the federal budget.

According to an estimate reported on by New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, benefits under McCain's dubious proposals on Social Security and taxes would be slashed by as much as three-quarters.

Contrary to McCain's claim that gutting Social Security would balance the federal deficit, the Bush-McCain Social Security privatization plan would worsen the deficit, cost taxpayers $1 trillion in initial costs and another $5 trillion over 20 years. And this bill would simply be in the form of a fat payoff to private investment companies.

With its record, why would taxpayers want to trust Wall Street with their retirement security?

In response to McCain's receipt of Social Security benefits, Alliance for Retired Americans President George Kourpias said, 'John McCain receives nearly $24,000 each year in Social Security. If he thinks Social Security is a 'disgrace,' why doesn’t he mark “return to sender” on the envelope?'

In a press statement, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama pledged to block privatization efforts. He said, “As President, I will protect Social Security for today’s seniors and future generations.'

Obama stated that strengthening the program is a goal of his. 'That means strengthening Social Security’s solvency while protecting middle class families from benefit cuts, tax increases or increases in the retirement age,' he noted.

Commenting on McCain's dislike for the program, Obama added, 'It means treating Social Security not as a political football or describing it as an 'absolute disgrace,' but instead honoring it as the cornerstone of the social compact in this country.'

Social Security is one of the longest-lasting public programs because it works and it helps retirees bridge a financial gap that keeps millions out of poverty. Say not to John McCain and to privatization.

--Joel Wendland can be reached at