A new survey conducted by the National Committee to Preserve Social
Security and Medicare shows America's baby boomers support protecting
Social Security benefits for both current and future generations. This
National Committee survey gauges public opinion on the future of Social
Security, reform options and support for the program. The survey
questioned Americans 45 years and older and found:
When given a menu of options for funding Social Security, the most
popular choice among the 45-63 year old baby boomers was raising the
wage base (currently $106,800) on which Americans pay payroll taxes
(36%) and the least popular was reducing benefits (6%).The survey also revealed that protecting Social Security benefits
crosses party lines: More than 30% of respondents (Democrats,
Republicans, and Independents) support raising the level of earnings on
which payroll taxes are paid and just under 14% favor raising the
retirement age. Among the small number of people supporting benefit
cuts, there is a modest partisan gap on the issue, with 7.4% of
Republicans, 5.4% of Independents and 4.7% of Democrats supporting
benefit cuts. Of the baby boomers who responded, more than 80% do not believe
Social Security is in crisis. However, most do believe there are
problems.
Health Care Video For Retirees
Watch an 8 minute video from Alliance for Retired Americans
Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 688 President Lance Biglin in
Mansfield, Ohio, has taken a creative approach to help educate
Americans on the importance of buying American. Biglin, together with
his wife, has published a children’s book, “Bye, America” to help teach children, and in some cases their parents, why it is important to buy American-made products.
In his letter introducing the book Biglin writes, “This is the story
of 4 million American families who have seen their jobs disappear over
the last eight years.”
The story follows one worker who loses his job at a vacuum cleaner
factory when his factory moves to China. The father takes his children
to “Walrus Mart” to show them why it is important to buy American-made
products. Sadly, every product they looked at was labeled “Made in
China.”
“The United States has lost 3,500,000 jobs since the year 2000. Most
of these were jobs that paid Americans a fair wage for a hard day’s
work. When these jobs leave our country, there is very seldom an
opportunity for a better job for these displaced workers.
This book
gives you a chance to sit down with the next generation of Americans
and explain to them the importance of supporting their fellow
countrymen. We are not losing these jobs because we are unproductive;
we are losing these jobs because other countries are exploiting their
workers, producing unsafe goods and just plain cheating,” concludes
Biglin.
The book is beautifully illustrated by the author’s wife, Kristi
Biglin. To order copies of the book, which is “proudly union printed in
the U.S.A.,” click here.
SOAR was established in 1985 to organically link the USW’s active members with those in retirement so that both can work on common problems.
This Chapter is composed of members from local unions in Southern Illinois (Sub 2). Like most SOAR chapters, we come from many backgrounds -steel, rubber, aluminum, grain, paper, public sector and many others. Like the Seal of the United States of America - E Plurbus Unum ("FromMany - We Are ONE").
