Social Security needs to be fixed

I smiled when I read Jim Niday's letter on Social Security ('Congress spending Social Security,” June 19).

It is was an excellent analogy of what has happened to the 'trust fund” and the money they take from every paycheck.

But the history is more bitter. The big grab started with Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and the war on poverty. To fund this endless giveaway, Congress opened the trust fund and made it available to the general fund, the previously untouchable collected contributions could be replaced with IOUs (U.S. Treasury notes).

President Carter threw in the insult of allowing immigrants who did not contribute $1 to draw from the fund. President Clinton was faced with a dilemma that the golden cow of Social Security was milked dry, but more money was needed to be spent. So he asked Congress to tax the Social Security payments with Vice President Al Gore casting the tie breaking vote in the Senate.

So here we are, a long promised retirement program that is all IOUs and thousands depending on it. All the talk is about how can we fix it. The only absolutely certain thing is that whatever 'fix” is recommended, Congress cannot have access to the money.

Dale Richey

Swisher