PRIVATIZING SOCIAL SECURTIY
WOULD HURT AFRICAN-AMERICANS
Privatizing Social Security Would Hurt African Americans
Board of Directors vote to support Healthy Families Act that would provide
paid sick leave to all workers
New York -- Leaders of the National Association for the Advancement
of Colored People (NAACP) today said that privatizing Social Security
would cause a disproportionate and irreparable harm to African
American retirees and others who depend on disability and
survivor benefits.
“Privatization is another effort to reward wealthy Americans
at the expense of working Americans, particularly black working
Americans, asking them to play the lottery with their future,” Julian
Bond, Chairman, NAACP Board of Directors, told about 300 NAACP
members who attended the 96th Annual Meeting in New York’s Hilton Hotel.
In addition to Social Security, NAACP Interim President & CEO
Dennis Hayes said the investigation of the NAACP’s tax exempt
status continues to be a matter of serious concern. Hayes said:
“The IRS challenge is one we have to take seriously because it is
something that could affect our ability to carry out our mission.
At the same time, I am sure we will be vindicated.”
Commenting on President Bush’s claim that privatizing Social
Security would benefit African Americans because their average
lifespan is shorter than whites, Bond said: “It isn’t Social Security
that’s a bad deal for blacks – dying too early is the real bad deal!
They would rather play the race card than actually address blacks’
shorter life expectancy. Using shorter black life expectancy as an
excuse for privatizing Social Security isn’t just offensive; it is also misleading.”
Bond continued: “The black-white disparity in life expectancies
practically disappears at retirement age. If they really cared
about black life expectancy, they’d fix health care, which is
really broken. They’d fix the black-white unemployment gap – joblessness
for blacks is always twice the rate for whites.” He added: “They’d
find ways to end the numerous threats to long life and to extend
our lives. Instead, they want to turn Social Security into broker
security. This argument isn’t about Main Street; it’s about Wall Street.”
Social Security is the only source of income for 1 in 3 African
Americans over the age of 65. Moreover, nearly 80% of African
Americans over age 65 depend on Social Security for more than
half of their income.
Hilary Shelton, Director, NAACP Washington Bureau, said, “All
three Social Security programs, retirement, disability and
survivor’s benefits, are disproportionately important to the
economic survival of African Americans and other racial
and ethnic minorities.” In addition, Shelton said, “African
American children are almost four times more likely to be
lifted out of poverty by Social Security benefits than our white counterparts.”
The NAACP National Board of Directors unanimously voted
to oppose any change in the Social Security system “that would
decrease or in any way jeopardize the guaranteed benefits tha
t America’s seniors, disabled or survivors currently receive.”
Abstract from Report on The Social Security Privatization
Crisis: Assessing the Impact on African American Families
Center for Policy Analysis and Research Maya Rockeymoore,
Ph.D. Vice President of Research and Programs Congressional
Black Caucus Foundation:
For years, proponents of individual accounts have argued that
African Americans can make up for centuries of discrimination
and disadvantage by investing a portion or all of their Social
Security payroll contributions in the stock market. Despite the
lure of these arguments, African Americans, policymakers, and
the general public must take care to understand the importance of
Social Security to African American families and how they would be
affected if the system were partially privatized. .. Social Security is
a comprehensive family insurance program that is extremely
important for African American families who heavily rely on its
survivor, disability and retirement benefits. African American
children are especially reliant on Social Security’s steady benefits
comprising 20 percent of all retired worker child beneficiaries,
23 percent of all child survivor beneficiaries, and 21 percent of
all disabled worker child recipients. .. Deep cuts in Social Security’s
steady benefits, like those proposed in Model 2 of the President’s
Social Security Commission, are a threat to African American
families who would be most likely to face extreme poverty in
the event that revenue from individual accounts are insufficient
to cover the costs of retirement, disability, or survivor benefits.
Young African American workers who experience early disability
or death would not have enough accumulated in their individual
accounts to cover the amount of the cuts. Black children and
widow(er)s are likely to suffer the most. .. Arguments that African
Americans would receive great wealth from individual accounts
are misleading and overlook the fact that existing racial income
disparities would remain or even widen under individual accounts
even if blacks and whites were earning the same rate of return.
African Americans, who have lower earnings and higher rates
of unemployment, would be severely disadvantaged by the
elimination of a real progressive benefit structure in a system
of individual accounts.
To see full report go to http://www.cbcfinc.org/pdf/SSPrivatization.pdf
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