Opinion
Kansan
Published daily since 1912
Ann Premer, Editor
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Wednesday, March 31, 1999
Clay McCuistion / KANSA
Editorial
Congress' urgent actions required to halt Social Security's collapse
The most urgent domestic problem facing Congress this year is Social Security reform. It is imperative that Congress deal with Social Security this session.
The primary function of the Social Security system is to provide retirement and survivors benefits. This comprises 86 percent of Social Security expenditures. Social security also provides disability insurance and a host of other smaller programs.
Taxes paid to the Social Security system by workers pay for the benefits of current retirees. Because Social Security takes in more money than it spends, the surplus goes into the Social Security Trust Fund.
Every year Congress raids the trust fund to pay for budget deficits and replaces that money with non-negotiable treasury bonds. This is how we get the mythical budget "surplus."
As the baby-boom generation begins to retire, there will be more people drawing out of the Social Security system and fewer people paving into it.
The administration estimates that by 2010 there only will be two workers for every retiree taking money out of the system. Now there are about 3.3 workers per retiree, in 1950 there were eight per retiree.
The problem is that by the year 2013 the Social Security system will begin to pay out more than it takes in, theoretically the difference would be paid by the trust fund. The problem is that the government already has spent the
The government needs to provide benefits with minimal tax hikes or new borrowing.
trust fund monies on other projects.
The administration believes that the system can stay solvent until 2029; some supporters of the system claim it to be solvent until 2032, and some contend that it will never be insolvent.
The problem with these scenarios is that they require the government to pay back these treasury securities. To do this, the U.S. government would have to raise taxes or borrow more money (increasing the privately held government debt). According to Milton Freidman, Nobel Prize winning economist, the government will have to raise $7 trillion to $11 trillion to pay for the system.
In 1998, the Social Security system ran a surplus of $78 billion, this year it is estimated to run a surplus of $156 billion. In the next 15 years, Social Security will run a surplus of $4.7 trillion, if the economy keeps growing at its present rate. If the economy slows down, then the surpluses will be much smaller.
Current and future retirees have been promised certain levels of income from Social Security, and the nation must keep its word to them. These future surpluses give Americans a decent base for constructing a plan to deliver on this promise.
If the economy does not continue
to grow at current rates, then these surpluses never will materialize and the Social Security problem will be much harder to solve.
President Clinton promised in his 1998 State of the Union address to "save every penny" of Social Security. This year, he changed his mind and decided that Social Security could be saved with 62 percent of its own surplus.
Clinton wants to spend the rest.
Citizens want to pay Saving every penny would be a good start. By converting privately held national debt into publicly held treasury obligations held by the administration, the government would save money every year because of lower interest payments.
This would result in the government costing taxpayers less and less every year.
It would require the kind of fiscal discipline which lawmakers never have shown the backbone to exercise. It would require that lawmakers no longer spend money our nation needs to put toward preserving Social Security. Regardless of which reforms Congress eventually make, it is important that the members take action this year. Every year the Social Security trust fund is raided. Every year, the government spends more money that should be put into Social Security. Every year the collapse of Social Security gets closer. Every year, the problem gets bigger and harder to solve.
Congress needs to act immediately and devise a plan which can provide benefits with minimal tax increases or new borrowing.
Timothy Burger for the editorial board
Kansan staff
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"It is misery, not pleasure, which contains the secret of divine wisdom."
Simone Weil
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Media ignores reality of bumpy teen-age life
Perspective
made the mistake of watching the movie Cruel Intentions during spring break.
The film is an adaptation of the French novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" by Choderos De Laclos. It's a tale of
rustful doings among the upper class. In the original French version, the upper class is French courtesans. In Cruel Intentions, the upper class is wealthy, big-city teen-agers.
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Clay McCuistion
majorkes.com
How '90s.
How annoying.
Movies and television now assault us on all sides with images of youth as a perfect, sexy time. Never mind that the teen-age years are often embarrassing, awkward and acne-filled.
ing, awkward and acne fried. I'm sure that in some city, on some distant planet, in some far-off galaxy there are teenagers who look and act like those portrayed in Cruel Intentions. I'm sure somewhere high school students drive fabulously expensive cars, look like fashion models and have promiscuous sex without catching nasty diseases.
I've never been to that place myself, but I'm sure it exists.
suit themselves.
At least in the 1980s, we had The Wonder Years, which presented the traumas of growing up in a nearly realistic way.
ing up in culture. In the 1990s, we have the unparalleled output of the WB Network. Weekly, millions tune in to follow the exploits of the laughably wooden mannequins populating Dawson's Creek and Felicity.
Realism never has been a part of television or film, I understand. By definition, these media are means of escape.
But with each successive portrayal of unrealistic teen-age life, a message is sent: The viewer should be like these people on the TV or movie screen. These are models for life.
There are enough pressures on the average high school or college student without the added burden of fulfilling a fictitious image. The image — initially presented as a diversion — is shown again and again until it becomes acceptable as fact.
Albom quotes his former professor as saying: "The issue is to accept who you are and revel in that...I had my time to be in my 30s, and now is my time to be 78. You have to find what's good and true and beautiful in your life as it is now...Age is not a competitive issue."
I've heard situations and characters from Dawson's Creek analyzed with more passion and intensity than situations and characters
Schwartz hit on the element that slick, glamorous and ultimately empty portrayals of young people miss. One must reach one's own, personal, private standards. Goals set by others for appearance or actions are worthless.
Allowing TV programs such as Dawson's Creek or movies such as Cruel Intentions to mold our ideas of age, and what appearance or behavior is appropriate for that age is silly and self-defeating.
from the real world. I've read a review of Cruel Intentions that praised the movie's "realism" in depicting young adult life.
The teen-age and twenty-something years are one phase of life not particularly superior to any other. Live with vigor, certainly, but apply that excitement during all years — not just ones the media deem important.
Repeat a lie enough times, and it becomes true.
Youth is a positive trait. But youth is not about appearance and clothes. It's about an inner drive, an exuberance for life that is found in all categories and ages of people. Modern portraits of the teen-age years focus on the surface and ignore qualities that truly distinguish "young" people.
During break, I also had the chance to read a book called "Tuesdays With Morrie" by Mitch Albom. This experience was not a mistake.
take.
Albom, a sports columnist for The Detroit Free Press, writes about time spent with his former college teacher, Morrie Schwartz. Schwartz was dying of Lou Gehrig's disease and decided to share his thoughts about life and death with Albom.
Schwartz was 78 and not attractive in a fashion model way. Yet he was full of youth. Even as he was consumed by an unstoppable illness, Schwartz laughed and shared time with those closest to him.
"I say more, but *Metrose Place* is on, and I never miss an episode.
McCuision is an El Dorado sophomore in pre-journalism.
don't get invited to many parties. That's probably because most kids don't want someone who's their parents' age hanging around.
One-on-one encounters diminish cultural biases
I guess I can understand that, but I still am hoping to go to a sorority or fraternity party before I graduate.
However, when one of my six roommates has a party, my chances of getting an invite soar through the roof. Even if they are asking just to be nice, I am not beyond taking advantage of a good situation.
This situation happened a few weeks ago. One of my roommates had a wine-tasting party. The idea of attending excited me, but it also made me nervous. I would only know two or three people.
Simmie Berroya
opinion@kansan.com
know two or three people.
At the same time, I liked the idea of meeting people from other areas of the campus. I also reasoned that if I made a fool of myself — such as getting drunk on one glass of wine — or became bored, I could always quietly slin up to my room.
Most of the people there were graduate students, and I doubt if any of them knew or suspected that I was an undergraduate.
DISCUSSION
My roommate did a great job of inviting a variety of persons. I especially enjoyed talking with two graduate teaching assistants about their experiences in Russia. Diversity issues were far from my mind.
After my first two glasses of wine, I no longer felt inhibited. I flitted from group to group, trying to pick up on what was being discussed.
About halfway through the party, a tall young man walked in. I just barely noticed him. A little while later, I encountered him
in the kitchen where we were both deciding whether to try the Moroccan sardines or the smoked herring. I quickly discovered that he was from Russia.
I have met maybe one or two Russians before, but here was one who was determined to have a conversation with me. Normally I would flee in this situation, convinced that I wouldn't be able to understand him because of his accent. His manner was so engaging and warm that I found myself enthralled.
We talked about school, about the places he had been to, and in short, the usual things that strangers chat about. What made me realize that this had something to do with diversity was the thought processes my mind was going through while we were conversing.
I was trying my best to coniure up images of former biases regarding Russia so that I could attach them to him in my mind. I was trying to stereotype him. I tried to think of an old Russian woman on a street corner selling hand-painted items.
I could identify with him and accept him. This is the goal of my heart: to be this way with everyone I meet.
Then it occurred to me: When it's one-on-one, nothing else matters. At that moment, this young man became a beautiful person, and my heart opened up to him.
I tried to think of a concert pianist sitting at the piano 18 hours a day for the government. I even tried to think of a Russian dictator. I tried to think of ideological differences. But nothing was working. I couldn't do it.
If we can all do this,we will make the world a better place.
I was talking one-on-one with a person, not a country, not a religion, not an ideology, not a history, not even a whole race of people, just another human being.
Berroya is an Olathe senior in communication studies.
Feedback
Students remember deceased friend
Editor's note: Lisa Rosel, former Overland Park freshman, was killed March 31, 1989 when she was struck by a truck while crossing Tennessee Street. Mathew Vestal, the driver of the truck that struck her, had a blood-alcohol level of .081. The legal limit for underage drivers in Kansas is o.2. The following piece was submitted by two
Dedication.
of Lisa's friends on the anniversary of her death.
Tonight, we light our candles and bow our heads in prayer to show that we remember you, how very much we care.
We care that you were taken. You really had no choice; so
And as the flames grow brighter here in the fire light gleam, the shadows of your life appear almost in a dream.
now we dedicate ourselves to be your silent voice.
Dear God, your spirit leads us. For greater goals we'll strive, to rid our streets and highways of those who drink and drive.
Angie Boley
Eden Prairie, Minn., sophomore
Keiley Keirsey
Overland Park sophomore
Jen Bystedt
Colorado Springs, Colo., sophomore