John Michaelson
ST. PAUL, Minn. - When it comes to fixing the nation's debt problems, Minnesotans think Congress can find more creative and effective ways to do it than by trimming Social Security, according to a new poll.
The poll of likely voters finds 72 percent are opposed to cutting Social Security benefits to help reduce the federal deficit. There's good reason, says Greta Bergstrom, communications director for the group Take Action Minnesota.
"Social Security is a program that has worked enormously well for millions of people in this country and, as such, it actually should be strengthened and not cut, and not pared back."
Dr. Nancy Rudner-Lugo, president of Health Action, a health and social-services consulting firm, says politicians keep putting Social Security on the chopping block because it works.
"The reason they want to go after Social Security is because it is solvent. That's where the money is; it's been a very well-run program."
More than 830,000 people in Minnesota receive Social Security, and for about one-third of those, the benefits lift them out of poverty.
Continued political meddling with Social Security will only assure that today's workers face severe poverty in the future, Rudner-Lugo says.
"Both parties need to come to the table and work out a solution - and really, hands-off Social Security and Medicare. That's not where the big dollars are. You can't cut people to the bone."
The poll results are online at ncpssmfoundation.org.
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