WASHINGTON -A group prominent in the fight against President Bush's plan to push for private accounts in Social Security says people near or in retirement are relying increasingly on the federal program, underscoring the need to protect their benefits.
The AARP made that point in a report last Monday on the economic and health status of Americans age 50 and older. For people in that group, the report found that the quality of their lives was improving.
But the incomes of older people have dropped from five years ago, according to the study.
Real growth in Social Security benefits coupled with real declines in total income mean that people aged 62 and older are even more dependent on Social Security for their retirement income than they were a decade ago
the AARP report said.
According to the report, that shows the need to strengthen Social Security's guaranteed benefit and not subject beneficiaries to an increased risk.
White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Bush's plan would protect benefits and therefore give future retirees a better standard of living once they stopped working. Duffy said that the voluntary personal accounts, when added to traditional Social Security, would exceed current benefits.
The highest-risk approach is doing nothing and looking the other way because that will guarantee a 27 percent benefit cut or a 50 percent tax increase that will severely impact those on fixed incomes Duffy said.
Charlie Jarvis, chairman of USA Next, a group that bills itself as an alternative to the AARP, said the report is intended to confuse people.
When the average person receives $920 a month in Social Security that really is a terrible commentary on the present Social Security system
he said. It means it is in a monstrously decrepit state financially.
