|
 More than 1,200 western New Yorkers
rallied recently to defend Social Security (SS) and oppose President George
Bush’s attempts to privatize the system and cut benefits for working and
middle-class families. While Bush spoke at an event in nearby Greece, N.Y.,
Monroe County residents spoke from the heart about their desire to maintain SS
as it exists today at a rally at the First Universalist Church in Rochester,
N.Y. A standing room only crowd of 750 packed the church, and approximately 500
stood outside.
Monroe County residents were joined at the rally by residents from
all of western New York, including a bus from Buffalo, vans from Syracuse and
carpools from the Finger Lakes area.
According to detractors of the new plan, fifty
percent of New York’s seniors are kept out of poverty because of SS and
privatization would lead the way for the dismantling of a program that citizens
throughout the country depend on greatly. Seniors are also concerned about the
future of the system for their children and grandchildren, said Freddi
Fredericka Macek, a SS recipient who lives in Rochester.
“Privatizing SS would threaten the safety net that my
grandparents’ generation depended on. If the president succeeds with his
plan for deep benefit cuts for middle class families, there won’t be much
left for my generation,” said Gayle Schecter, 20, of Brighton.
“Western New Yorkers I know
reject the idea of radical changes to the SS system that has worked so well for
almost 70 years,” said John Greenbaum, 43, of Rochester
“SS has
worked because it’s an insurance plan that says, we’re all in this
together.”
Bush has proposed two fun- SS RALLY Continued from page 1 damental
changes in SS - reducing benefits for all beneficiaries except some with low
incomes and creating a system of private accounts within SS. According to the
rally organizers, taken together, these two changes could ultimately lead to
the unraveling of SS, because many middle and upperincome workers who retire a
number of decades from now would end up receiving little or nothing in their SS
check in retirement.
The rally was organized by the “In This Together
Campaign: New Yorkers United to Protect Social Security,” which is the New
York affiliate of Americans United to Protect Social Security, a national
umbrella group opposing Bush’s plan to privatize SS and cut benefits.
Groups assisting in the rally include the Working Families Party, Citizen
Action of New York, the Rochester Genesee Valley Labor Federation, Metro
Justice and the Monroe County Democratic Committee.
|
