Public Employee Press

2012 Election
Retirees say re-elect Obama to save Social Security

By ALFREDO ALVARADO

The issues facing millions of senior citizens took center stage at the White House July 16 as Vice President Joe Biden met with over 100 activists from more than 60 senior groups that are part of the Leadership Council on Aging Organizations.

At the top of the agenda for Biden and the seniors was protecting Social Security and Medicare.

"We refuse to shift the burden onto the backs of the people who worked so damn hard their whole life. They have earned their retirement," Biden said .

"We had to fight nationwide in 2005 against President George W. Bush and his plan to privatize Social Security and leave retirees at the mercy of the stock market," DC 37 Retirees Association President Stuart Leibowitz said at the Washington conference. DC 37's national union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, led the fight and Bush's plan was stopped.

"We'll be ready to fight again if we have to, but first we need to stop Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan at the polls in November," said Leibowitz, "because they are a threat to both Social Security and Medicare."

President Obama strongly opposes privatizing Social Security, as well as cutting its cost-of-living benefit or raising the age of eligibility. But DC 37 retirees understand that everything could change if Republicans Romney and Ryan are elected in November and move into the White House.

"All it takes is a stroke of a pen and we're in big trouble," is how Rochelle Mangual, sees it if Romney is elected. Retired in 1999 from Local 384, Mangual is active in the Retirees Association and understands clearly what's at stake in the November presidential election. "It will be bad for the baby boomers, and people will have to work longer before they can retire," added the Upper West Side resident.

Julia Jorge, another retiree activist, hears the same thing among her neighbors in the Bronx. "People are worried that their children won't have the health care and Social Security benefits that today's retirees have," said the former Local 371 member. "They know we have to keep Obama in office."

The recession has pushed many seniors into poverty, and they are counting on Barack Obama to continue improving the economy. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 9 percent of people 65 and older lived below the poverty line in 2010. And the Daily News reported recently that in New York City, homelessness of single adults over the age of 55 jumped 28 percent.

Romney's Wall Street friends

"As time has gone on, there have been more and more economic homeless people," said Karen Jorgensen, director of the Valley Lodge Shelter in Morningside Heights, in the Daily News report. "They are people who did the right thing, but they didn't have a pension or a nest egg, and their rent started to equal their income."

The housing crash eliminated trillions of dollars in home values, dealing a major blow to many seniors and forcing them back into the workplace to help make ends meet.

Seniors and their pensions have recently been scapegoated for budget shortfalls and companies' fiscal troubles, although in fact the problems were caused by the deep financial downturn of 2008 and 2009, which in turn was created by the recklessness and greed of Romney's Wall Street friends.

When companies do have pension problems, often it's because they have failed to make their contributions. That's what happened to American Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy and hired Mitt Romney's firm, Bain Capital, for guidance in the bankruptcy process. Romney's recommendation to lay off 13,000 workers, end the pension plan and cancel their retirees' health insurance showed all Americans what he might do if elected.

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