Page A4
September 05, 2001
(Elje IJortlanò (ßbseruer
Opinion articles do not necessarily reflect or represent the views
O^boeruer
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Jarlian i»
(Observer
USPS 95 9 -6 8 0
Established 1970
s TA FF
E
d it o r
in
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P u b l is h e r
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i t
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anager
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Minorities Courted in Social Security Debate
by L E IG H ST R O P E
T he A ssociated P ress
The Bush administration and
its allies are focusing on women
and minorities as they try to build
support for overhauling Social
Security by creating personal in­
vestment accounts.
T he support o f those tw o
groups is essential, and the ad­
ministration — as well as propo­
nents o f private accounts — is
la y in g th e g ro u n d w o rk in
speeches, policy papers, inter­
views, memos and reports.
“ If they don’t make a case that
Social Security reform is better for
women and minorities than the
current system, the battle is really
lost,” said David John, Social Se­
curity policy analyst for the Heri­
tage Foundation, a conservative
think tank that favors individual
accounts.
Opponents o f such accounts
say Social Security has provided
a safety net for women and minori­
ties, who are disproportionately
dependent on the benefits.
Social Security is an insurance
program that “has been spectacu­
larly successful in reducing pov­
erty among the elderly and the
disabled, and in ensuring that
people who have worked hard all
theirlives have a minimally decent
standard o f living in retirement,”
said Rep. Robert Matsui, D-Calif.
Both sides agree that Social
Security, which reached its 66th
anniversary last month, will face
funding problems when the large
baby boom generation starts re­
tiring in the coming decade and
fewer workers pay into die sys­
tem.
To help shore up funding,
President Bush has proposed let­
ting younger workers invest some
o f their payroll taxes in the stock
market. He has created a commis­
sion to devise a plan, recommend
how to pay for it and report to him
in the fall.
Women and minorities are most
at risk, the commission said in its
initial report in July. It asked the
Social Security Administration for
more information on women and
minority beneficiaries
The administration also has
been pitching private accounts as
a way to build larger retirement
nest eggs, which officials say
would benefit women more be­
cause they tend to live longer
than men.
“They should be able to put
the magic o f compound interest to
work for them, generating greater
financial security and peace o f
mind,” Treasury Secretary Paul
O ’Neill told the Bond Market
Association last month.
For minority men, who have
shorter average life spans, the
accounts create wealth that can
S I f they d o n ’t make
a case that Social
Security reform is
better fo r women and
minorities than the
current system, the
battle is really lost
— David John, Social
Security policy analyst for
thè Heritage Foundation
’
be passed on to survivors, he
said.
House Majority Leader Dick
Armey, in a memo to Republicans
last month, said blacks and His­
panics are hurt in the current sys­
tem. “Happily, these problems can
be remedied by letting workers
invest their own payroll tax dol­
lars in personal retirement ac­
counts," Armey, R-Texas, wrote.
O pponents say those argu­
ments fail to acknowledge that
Social Security is a progressive
system — structured so lower-
wage earners get more in benefits
for what they paid in comparison
with higher-income workers. That
benefits women and minorities.
Social Security also provides guar­
anteed benefits that increase with
inflation, they note.
“Private accounts are not a
guaranteed, lifetime benefit —
when your money runs out, it’s
gone,” said Marilyn Leist o f the
American Association ofUniver-
sity W om en, w hich opposes
privatization. “Private accounts
do not assure cost-of-living ad­
ju stm e n ts, w hich keep older
women on the other side o f the
poverty line.”
A nother argum ent in favor o f
the current system is that it p ro ­
vides autom atic b en efits for
spouses w ith little or no w ork
h is to r y a n d f o r s u r v iv in g
spouses, though they m ust have
been m arried at least 10 years.
B o th th o s e b e n e f its f a v o r
women, who live longer and who
are m ore likely to take tim e o ff
w ork to care for children.
On the other side, the A lli­
ance for W orker Retirem ent Se­
curity, created by the N ational
A ssociation o f M anufacturers
in 1998 to push for personal
accounts, argues that the cur­
rent structure hurts divorced
women who must have remained
m arried 10 years to get spousal
or survivor’s benefits.
UN Action Sought on US Drug Policies
War on drugs
is war on
people of color
by YOJICOLE
D iversitv T nc . com
About 200 celebrities, civil-
rights activists and legislators
recently descended on the United
Nations demanding that it chal­
lenge U.S. drug laws at the world
conference on racism in Durban,
South Africa.
In a petition to U.N. Secretary
General Kofi Annan, the group,
which among others included ac-
tivist/actorDannyGlover, former
Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders,
and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich.,
charged that the U.S. war on drugs
is a war on people o f color.
“The war on drugs is rooted in
racial bias,” the petition said.
Among those incarcerated in
state prisons for drug felonies,
African Americans comprise 57
percent and Latinos account for
22 percent, according to U.S. D e­
partment o f Justice statistics. In
New York state, 94 percent o f
people in prison on drug charges
are African American or Latino
and in that state, as in California,
more African-American men are
sent to prison each year than
graduate from state colleges and
universities, the petition said.
To counter the popular argu­
ment that a person should “do the
time if he does the crime,” the
petition’s signatories said white
youth are just as likely to use and
sell drugs as youths o f color, yet
they are incarcerated less fre­
quently.
“People who live in poor com­
munities, which are usually mi­
nority communities, have less to
lose (monetarily) and they ’re will­
ing to take more risk to make
money,” said Kevin Zeese, presi­
dent o f Common Sense for Drug
Policy, a non-profit think-tank.
Government reports show that
white males are selling drugs and
are more likely to use drugs than
men o f color.
According to the Centers for
Disease Control: A white male is
four times more likely than an
African-American male to be a
regular cocaine user.
The chance o f a white person
ever inhaling an illicit drug in his
or her lifetime is 42 percent.
The chance o f an A frican-
American person inhaling an ille­
gal substance in his or her lifetime
is 37.7 percent.
A great amount o f drug selling
in poor neighborhoods occurs on
the street, while in more affluent
neighborhoods that behavior is
kept behind closed doors.
I 1 IN K
ID l l l l
I DI I OR
Community Loses
I am writing to express regret
over the decision to make the
darkroom facilities at Portland
CommunityCollege, Sylvania,
available to credit students
only and do away with the Com­
munity Education Darkroom
course taught by Jim Irwin.
As a member o f the commu­
nity, I help support PCC and its
facilities through my tax dol­
lars by voting for bond mea­
sures that benefit PCC and
through my course fees. The
middle “C” in PCC stands for
“community” and eliminating
this course goes against what
the college claims as the heart
o f its mission.
J im Irwin is a wonderful, sup­
portive instructor who does his
best to educate and encourage
all o f the students in his class,
regardless o f their level o f ex­
pertise. He provides an open,
relaxed atmosphere that al lows
young and old, to work to­
gether to benefit artistic en­
deavors.
W hilel'msure there areprob-
lems that have prompted this
change, there are less drastic
and c o stly so lu tio n s th at
should be tried first.
The darkroom course is ex­
tremely popular and if the con­
tention for facilities is the is­
sue, PCC should attempt to
expand them rather than restrict
access. If the costs involved
are not being bom e evenly
between credit and non-credit
students, then course fees
should be adjusted.
I hope PCC will consider al­
ternative solutions to whatever
issues have been raised and
will give them a try before do­
ing away with the course com­
pletely.
J .J . F ishtruck
to
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