Richard Gephardt: “I support this bipartisan effort to further a national dialogue on Social Security. Social Security is the towering…”

“I support this bipartisan effort to further a national dialogue on Social Security. Social Security is the towering achievement of our democracy in the twentieth century. It has bestowed on millions of Americans a measure of financial security and freedom from fear of spending their retirement in impoverishment. It has taken us decades to build a program that has worked so well to keep retirees out of poverty. That has been so successful in supplying survival income for widows and their children when their loved one dies unexpectedly. And that has given so many disabled people income when they were unable to work. It would be a national disgrace if we damage a program that has done so much good for so many people. We shouldn't take any steps that would drastically change the nature of Social Security. And we should make no changes without engaging in an intense dialogue with the American people who overwhelmingly support and fund it. We are hearing a lot about Social Security from people who want to divert the stream of Social Security payments from the trust fund into equity markets. Who want to change the whole nature of the Social Security system, from one where there is a sacred bond between Americans and their government, to one where there this bond is eliminated. Many advocates of radical reform want to change Social Security from a safe and secure source of income into a bet on the performance of the stock market.”