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November 22, 2012

Letter: Privatization and Social Security

Gloucester Daily Times

To the editor:

In the 1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt — our only four-term elected president — established the Social Security program to be set aside as a protection for retirement.

It was to be separately funded by a percentage drawn from a worker’s earned wages. This fund was doing so well Congress decided to tap into it instead of leaving it alone. Now it is a problem.

Medicare, government-run, is struggling, yet HMOs run by private enterprise seem to be making money. The Postal Service, government-run, is deeply in debt. But UPS and FedEx, two private enterprises, appear to be making money. And yet, when that evil word “privatize” pops up, those that are being enabled through government programs go into a panic fearing they will lose benefits.

While Congress is gridlocked trying to keep from borrowing any more money from China, private enterprise is criticized for sending their jobs overseas to make a greater profit. However, due to the mood of the people, private enterprise will find a way to capitalize on “made in USA” marketing much more quickly than government programs.

Privatizing some government-run programs is not a bad thing.

It does not necessarily mean eliminating them, just cleaning them up and making them more cost-efficient.

HAROLD L. NELSON

Haverhill

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