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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 22, 1997)
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF: Steven Asbury MANAGING EDITOR: Thom Schoenbom NIGHT EDITOR: Jennifer Schmitt EDITORIAL EDITORS: Ashley Bach & Brian Diamond editorials, letters, commentary and perspective NEWSROOM: (541)346-5511 DISPLAY ADVERTISING: (541) 346-3712 BUSINESS OFFICE: (541) 346-5512 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: (541) 346-4343 Don’t bet on Sociai Security ■ OUR OPINION: Personal savings, not Social Security, is the key to future stability A As hard as it may be to imagine, to day’s college students will be to morrow’s senior citizens. And as senior citizens they are going to need some source of income to support themselves in their old age. Most college students might be under the impression that Social Security will be that source of income. Most college students are wrong. Despite the fact that the Social Security program was originally designed during the Great Depression to support the elder ly after they retire, today’s generation has little chance of getting much out of the system they will be paying into their en tire working lives. The fact of the matter is Social Security is going broke, and no one has much of a plan on how to save it. The reason So cial Security is close to bankrupt cy revolves around the type of system it is. Unlike a personal retirement plan where one invests oney into savings and pulls from it when he or she retires, Social Security is a cross-generational transfer payment. This means the working generation pays for the retired generation with a So cial Security tax. Then, if all goes well, when they retire, the next working gener ation pays for them. While the plan sounds good in theory, it is flawed in practice. There are several problems with the current system that, if they don’t bank rupt the system, will severely weaken it. One problem is that because people to day are living so much longer than they used to, it costs more to support them. When the retirement age was set at 65 over 50 years ago, most peo ple didn’t live that long. Now with people living into their 90s, there are too many retired people receiv ing benefits compared with the number of people putting money into the system. This problem will be even more severe when the baby boomers start retiring and there is sud denly an increase in retired people receiv ing Social Security checks. Unless the sys tem is somehow fixed, most people agree it will be completely bankrupt by around 2044. That means tough luck to today’s col lege students who will be lucky to see much of the money they put into the sys tem. Even if Social Security is saved, it is likely that most people will see far less money than the retired enjoy today. In stead of relying primarily on Social Secu rity, young people today will have to come up with other sources of revenue to support themselves in their old age. And given how little most people are saving for the future today, that could be bad news. Thinking about saving for retirement when one is young is a hard thing to do. College students aren't always sure what they’ll be doing next week, let alone 40 years from now. But as hard as it is to be lieve, almost everyone will be elderly eventually, and when they are, they’ll need something to live off on. Unfortunately, for many people saving for retirement is a luxury they can’t afford. When all of one’s income is going to pay expenses like tuition, rent and food, there isn’t much chance to save. However, even putting aside a small amount of money into a retirement fund now is a smart move to ensure future security. Setting aside a little money today could save a lot of hardships tomorrow. Instead of seeing Social Security as something that will allow retired people to maintain the same lifestyle they en joyed when they were working, we should view it more like a welfare program for the elderly. If this happens people will start to see Social Security as something that keeps the elderly off the streets, not a re placement for personal retirement sav ings. It may seem too early to think about re tirement, but it isn’t. People who hope to have the same type of lifestyle they enjoy now should seriously consider some type of savings program for their future. Count ing on the government to do it with Social Security is a mistake most people can’t af ford to make. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial board. Entail us ■ BY MAIL: P.O.Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 ■ BY PHONE: (541)346-5511 ■ BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu ■ IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU LETTERS Coverage applauded Congratulations to you and the sports staff for putting out an excellent insert on women’s and men’s basketball [ODE, Jan. 9). After spending over 30 years in women’s athletics it is such a breath of fresh air to see the women treated with an even hand in terms of coverage. 1 haven’t read it all yet, but I will. Thanks so much for all your efforts! Peg Rees Instructor Physical Education Faculty insensitive In mid-November, I had the unhappy duty of calling my son home because of a death in the family. Unfortunately, it was near finals time. Not only did my son have to deal with mourning the loss of a dear rel ative, but he also had to endure the skepti cism and mistrust of faculty members who, upon his return to campus, wanted to refuse to give him his exams or allow any other concession. The mix of a deep personal loss, travel ing in a storm and the frustration of not be ing able to concentrate on studies because of grieving made for a pretty stressful No vember and December. 1 understand that some students try to avoid tests and research paper deadlines by lying to their instructors, but I really be lieve that “what goes around comes around.” In the meantime, what do the stu dents learn who have truly experienced a loss? That there is no understanding, com passion or empathy left in the world? That those who are supposed to teach them have no grasp of humanity? I would suggest if the University wishes to have alumni who contribute to its en dowments and students who encourage others to attend the University, they might train the insensitive faculty among them to — at the very least — treat students like valued clients. They do provide the facul ty’s livelihood, after all. Every one of my son’s instructors knew why he had been called away. How kind it would have been to have one of them 1) believe him and ex press sympathy and/or 2) anticipate his need by having a backup exam ready. There are, on a daily basis, so many op portunities to show kindness. I’ve always considered it one of the real goals of a tru ly liberal education. I would like to believe I am not alone in this belief. I strongly urge that, for those for whom it is appropriate, some training in reverence for life be pro vided at the University. M. Catherine Smith University Parent ■ In the Jan. 21 story on the Skin ner Butte cross, Attorney Bill Wheatley was falsely quoted as saying “This should not be up on the hill where it can trouble non-Christians in the community.” University Law Professor James Mooney actually said this. The mistake was due to an editing er ror. The Emerald regrets the mis take. ■ The Jan. 21 ar ticle entitled "PFC controls alloca tion of incidental fees” excluded certain facts, pos sibly misrepre senting the role of the ASUO Pro grams Finance Committee in the incidental fee process. The PFC has a total budget of $2,319,228 for the 1996-97 school year. The entirety of this budget is allocat ed to ASUO pro grams. However, about 25 percent of the PFC budget was allocated to programs directly by students on spring ballot measures. There fore, the finance committee has no direct control over this portion of its budget. The PFC’s bud get constitutes about 41 percent of each student's $135.05 per term incidental fee. The remainder of each student’s inciden- j tal fee is allocated j to the EMU and Athletic Depart ment by other student govern mental bodies and to subsidized student services by past ballot measures. The Emerald regrets any con fusion the article may have caused.
