AARP Eye Center
900,000 Petitions, One Message!
By Alejandra Owens, November 16, 2010 12:22 PM
AARP delivered petitions from over 900,000 Americans to the President's deficit commission today. The message? Don't cut Social Security benefits to reduce a deficit that the program did not cause.
It's not surprising that Americans are so adamantly against cutting Social Security - AARP surveys have shown that for 76 percent of Americans, Social Security will continue to be a key component of retirement security - for current and future generations. And an AARP survey in late October of registered voters age 40+ showed that Social Security and jobs are the top two issues of personal importance - far ahead of the deficit. That same survey showed that 75% are not confident that their children and grandchildren will have a secure retirement. That shouldn't be a worry.
AARP has been engaging Americans of all ages to try and demonstrate to lawmakers that Social Security is important to all generations. Especially at this time, when people face many obstacles such as lacking access to workplace retirement accounts, low savings rates and a decline in pensions, Social Security will continue to be the mainstay of retirement security for generations to come.
AARP - and those 900,000 petitions - calls on the President's fiscal commission to focus on the impact of cuts on real people when proposing any changes to Social Security with the goal of achieving retirement security for all Americans.