Patrick Moynihan said "I do not think there are 100 people in the country who understand the formulas by which you have a higher rate of benefit for persons with lower incomes, but it has been there from the beginning. It is a very progressive program in that regard. That level of general unawareness, as the Senator knows, is a threatening fact, that a majority of nonretired adults think they will never get Social Security, not knowing they might need it for other purposes. If they don't think they will get it, they won't miss it if it is taken away. That is why we had better act now, and soon, and with a measure of courage that the people who created this institution showed in 1934, 1935." @ PoliticalQuotes.com

On the recordMarch 18, 1998

I do not think there are 100 people in the country who understand the formulas by which you have a higher rate of benefit for persons with lower incomes, but it has been there from the beginning. It is a very progressive program in that regard. That level of general unawareness, as the Senator knows, is a threatening fact, that a majority of nonretired adults think they will never get Social Security, not knowing they might need it for other purposes. If they don't think they will get it, they won't miss it if it is taken away. That is why we had better act now, and soon, and with a measure of courage that the people who created this institution showed in 1934, 1935.

Said by

Patrick Moynihan

Illinois

Source

govinfo.gov

Editor's note · Context

Discussing the importance of Social Security and public awareness during a Senate floor debate.

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