May 13, 2008
Boomers contribute to nation's wealth
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If columnist Jay Hancock really wants to have an honest discussion about our nation's current fiscal mess, let's start with the facts ("Boomers planting a debt bomb," April 30).
American workers and taxpayers who are between 44 and 62 years old (the baby boomers) didn't create our current budget crisis; the Bush administration and its allies in Congress did that.
President Bush inherited a budget surplus and a Social Security trust fund built up in preparation for baby boomers' retirements.
Now, after billions in tax cuts for the wealthy, an underfunded war in Iraq and six years of a Republican-led Congress following the president's "borrow and spend" lead, we face a record national debt and budget deficit.
Americans of all ages should be outraged at this squandering of our fiscal resources.
However, rather than put the blame where it truly belongs, Mr. Hancock rehashed the administration's generational divide-and-conquer strategy.
This divisive "greedy geezer" myth is just that - a myth. American workers, most of them baby boomers, have contributed $2 trillion to the Social Security trust fund in the past two decades, leading to a $190 billion surplus.
Without these baby boomer contributions, our debt picture would be even worse.
So don't blame the boomers or Social Security for the fiscal damage done by this administration.
Barbara B. Kennelly
Washington
The writer is a former member of Congress and current president and CEO of the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.
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