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Oregon Daily Emerald
Tuesday, May 3, 2005
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The Oregon Dally Emerald is pub
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day during the school year by the
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■ In my opinion
A Fix for
Social Insecurity
I know you don’t give a damn
about Social Security. I know now
that I’ve mentioned Social Security
you’re probably not going to finish
reading this article. But you should do
both, and I’m going to tell you why.
First, you should read this article
because you don’t want to be the only
one of your friends not talking about
it. Now wouldn’t that be awkward?
Second, you should give a damn
about Social Security because if
you’re reading the Emerald you’re
probably either in school or still work
ing, which means it’s you — not the
old folks — who will be affected by
changes to the system.
We can no longer take retirement
for granted in this country. There is
now a better-than-ever chance you
could both begin and end your work
ing life wearing a blue vest or asking,
“Do you want fries with that?” Have
you ever wondered why the majority
of people who work in low-level serv
ice jobs seem to be either really young
or really old?
Let’s cut through the politics, the
nuances and the numbers for just a
second and get to Social Security
Crisis 101.
The problem is not, as some have
suggested, that Social Security is go
ing to run out of cash and be unable
to pay promised benefits. The prob
lem is that Social Security’s expenses
are going to exceed its revenues,
which will force the government to go
deeper and deeper into deficit in or
der to continue paying for the
program that is already the single
biggest line item in the $3 trillion
federal budget.
Social Security will be Ross Perot’s
worst nightmare 10 times over be
cause it will make all previous deficit
GABEBRADLEY
THE WRITING ON THE WALL
spending seem Scrooge-like in frugal
ity. It will test the absolute limit —
and beyond — of how our economy
can continue to function while our
government is mortgaging everything
just to make ends meet. Congress will
finally be functioning like an average
American household, and it will pray
for a return to the days when its
checks weren’t allowed to bounce.
Though we’ve known about these
problems for decades, we’ve done
nothing about it. No, the crisis is not
yet imminent. But that’s why it’s
crucial that we act now, while we
still can. We don’t need to live in
fear. We do need to think smart and
act smart today.
We need to either cut benefits, raise
taxes or both. The president is against
raising taxes and slowing the unsus
tainably high rate of benefit growth
for high income workers. The
Democrats do not have their own
plan; they're just against the
president's plan.
The most controversial part of the
president’s plan to reform Social Se
curity is the concept of voluntary pri
vate accounts. This would involve
taking a tiny fraction of the money
paid into Social Security and setting it
aside in a private account that the
individual would control.
The idea is that a person can either
have traditional Social Security and
collect a monthly check, or a
person can take a small portion and
try to get a higher rate of return
through mutual funds.
Although many may be nervous
about the president’s idea for the fu
ture of Social Security, these private
accounts are not as risky as they may
sound. First, the amount of money in
vested is quite small. Second, invest
ing in mutual funds carries much less
risk than investing directly in stocks
(which is one reason why the poten
tial rewards are smaller).
Moreover, one investment option
in the president’s plan is a fund com
posed entirely of treasury bonds,
which are universally regarded as the
safest investment on the face of the
planet. None of this, by the way, stops
a monthly deposit from being made
into a retiree's bank account (they
stopped using checks a while ago).
Nothing really changes except retirees
will own a portion of the assets used
to pay their monthly sums.
The real key, though, is to avoid the
Social Security quagmire altogether.
Many people are afraid of investing,
which is not very different from gam
bling in their minds. But I’ve got
news: The only true escape from the
imminent Social Security mess is to
become an investor.
Those who get smart about their fi
nances and start putting money into
individual retirement accounts, real
estate, and other investments won't
need to worry about whether the gov
ernment is able to keep its promises
into old age. More importantly, they
won't have to worry about putting on
the blue vest and going back to work
in their twilight years.
gabebradley@dailyememld.com
INBOX
Campus newspaper
delivers disappointment
If the Emerald wishes to gain sup
port in their crusade against being
“censored” and “defunded,” as with
the PFC fiasco earlier this year,
wouldn't it be much easier to do if
readers didn't pick up the paper and
find a huge amount of articles, pho
tos/graphics or headlines taken from
the Associated Press?
Example: April 22,2005 issue. Why
should we (students) pay for this out
of our incidental fee, when we can go
to the library and read the same arti
cles on the Internet for free? So that
we can read Ailee Slater unintelligibly
whine for a few paragraphs (justice
= terrorism? Is she related to Univer
sity Professor Chuck Hunt?), then
delve straight into some of the AP’s
best work?
Further more, the issue I picked up
is now three days old, and resided on
a very large stack (no less than 20) of
unused and soon-to-be-thrown-out
copies of the same edition. What a
waste of my time and money. The
Emerald's over-the-top liberal rheto
ric is simply a veil for what the paper
really is — a joke. Rather than take
action, such as reducing printing or
placing more emphasis on original
work, the Emerald has reverted to the
same ol' same ol' now that their
financial battle has been won.
Thanks for nothing.
Lance Lucas
Eugene
Parental notification bill
endangers pregnant teens
The Oregon House is considering a
bill that requires doctors to obtain
parental notification prior to perform
ing an abortion on a minor. I attend
ed the House Judiciary Hearing on
House Bill 2605.
This is a dangerous law. Studies
show that the majority of teens al
ready discuss abortion and alterna
tives with their parents. Teens who
don’t discuss alternatives are usually
from abusive homes or risk being
kicked out of the house. HB2605 will
not protect those teens.
HB2605, under sections 4 and 5,
states that a woman may go to court
to petition the parental notification
law in a private and confidential court
hearing. This is unconstitutional. Un
der ORS 192.420 “every person has a
right to inspect any public record of a
public body in this state.” It’s called
transparency, we as citizens have a
right to know what is going on in
our government.
Furthermore, the Oregon Constitu
tion in Article III Section I establishes
a separation of powers between the
Legislative, Executive, and Judicial
branches. This law infringes on the
powers of the Judicial Branch by cre
ating a secret court where no secret
courts are allowed.
Under these circumstances, it is
likely that teens would not seek court
petitions, as there is no public to eval
uate the hearing. The passage of
HB2605 would leave us with a popu
lation of homeless pregnant teenage
girls. Doctors are already required by
law and a standard of ethics to notify
authorities of abuse. The Oregon De
partment of Human Resources is
against this bill. Please contact your
legislators to make sure they are too:
www.leg.state.or.us.
Sermin Yesilada
Senior
■ Editorial
Controlling
immigration
best left to
professionals
April represents the highest period of illegal
immigration from Mexico to the United States.
This year, when the Bush administration was
unwilling to fund more Border Patrol officers,
citizens nationwide took it upon themselves
to regulate. Taking the name “the Minute
men,” about 1,000 volunteers settled down
last month to watch the line between Mexico
and Arizona and inform the U.S. Border Pa
trol of any illegal activity.
It gives new meaning to the phrase “neigh
borhood watch.”
Not surprisingly, a great number of groups
are up in arms over the Minuteman Project,
and rightly so. In a society that claims to work
toward acceptance of diversity, it is highly
xenophobic that everyday citizens, often
armed, are in charge of regulating the flow of
Mexican immigrants. There is a reason why
police officers must undergo schooling, not to
mention training in ethics, before they are al
lowed to enforce laws.
Upon considering the ever-present racial
profiling problem, it seems apparent that if of
ficers of the law cannot always make ethical
choices based on skin color, there is no way
civilians can be expected to treat illegal immi
grants fairly. The Minutemen patrol the bor
der, but who patrols the Minutemen? In
the absence of a news camera following
every Minuteman, there is no way to be
sure immigrants are not stripped of their
dignity or safety.
A camera was certainly watching San Diego
Minuteman Bryan Barton. Barton has been
accused of civil rights violations after momen
tarily detaining an illegal immigrant, then
forcing him to be videotaped while wearing a
shirt reading “Barton caught me crossing the
border and all I got was this lousy T-shirt.”
Public officials have taken an interesting
stand on the issue of Minutemen. Most Ari
zona border patrol officers are uncomfortable
with the idea, saying that Minutemen have
done more harm than good by repeatedly
tripping sensitivity wires meant to track
illegal immigrants. Because of them, the
border patrol wasted time and resources
following false leads.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has
alienated many by standing in favor of the
Minutemen, an ironic stance considering that
he is an immigrant himself, as well as gover
nor of a state with a large population of immi
grants, legal and otherwise.
Although April has ended, the Minuteman
Project is far from over. Organizers have
called the project a success and are now
discussing taking their volunteer force to
other Mexico border states and the
Canadian border.
It is not the job of everyday citizens to ex
ercise legal, armed authority over others. That
system is called anarchy. Border patrol offi
cers are employed and trained to do a certain
job; if they are unable to fulfill this job, the
government should consider increased
funding or training. Letting civilians
armed with weapons and xenophobia
patrol the Mexican border is not the answer to
illegal immigration.
CLARIFICATION
The location of the “Sephardic Poetry: Lost Jewish
Voices” event with speaker Professor Monique Balbuena,
part of Holocaust Awareness Week, has been changed to
246 Gerlinger Hall, on Thursday at 3 p.m.
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