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Older Americans Issues - GRF Statements - Social Security
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Older Americans Issues - GRF Statements - Social Security
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The original documents are located in Box F54, folder "Older Americans Issues - GRF
Statements - Social Security" of the President Ford Committee Campaign Records at the
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. Gerald R. Ford donated to the
United States of America her copyrights in all of her husband's unpublished writings in National
Archives collections. Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official
duties are in the public domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or
organizations are presumed to remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed
in the PDF is subject to a valid copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential
Library.
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Our Federal Social Security system for people who
have worked hard and contributed to it all their lives 1s.
a vital part of our economic system. Its value is no
longer debatable. In my budget for fiscal year 1977 I am
recommending that the full cost of living increase in
Social Security benefits be paid during the coming year.
But I am concerned about the integrity of our Social
Security Trust Fund that enables people -- those retired
and those still working who will retire -- to count on
this source of retirement income. Younger workers watch
their deductions rise and wonder if they will be adequately
protected in the future.
We must meet this challenge head-on.
Simple arithmetic warns all of UB that the Social
Security Trust Fund is headed for trouble. Unless we act
soon to make sure the fund takes in as much as 1t, pays out,
there will be no security for old or young.
I must therefore recommend a 3/10 of one percent
increase in both employer and employee Social Security
taxes effective January 1, 1977. This will cost each
covered employee less than one extra dollar a week and will
ensure the integrity of the trust fund.
President Gerald R. Ford
State of the Union Address
January 19, 1976
GERALD
&
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Our Federal Social Security system for people who
have worked hard and contributed to it all their lives is.
a vital part of our economic system. Its value is no
longer debatable. In my budget for fiscal year 1977 I am
recommending that the full cost of living increase in
Social Security benefits be paid during the coming year.
But I am concerned about the integrity of our Social
Security Trust Fund that enables people - those retired
and those still working who will retire - to count on
this source of retirement income. Younger workers watch
their deductions rise and wonder if they will be adequately
protected in the future.
We must meet this challenge head-on.
Simple arithmetic warns all of us that the Social
Security Trust Fund is headed for trouble. Unless we act
soon to make sure the fund takes in as much as it pays out,
there will be no security for old or young.
I must therefore recommend a 3/10 of one percent
increase in both employer and employee Social Security
taxes effective January 1, 1977. This will cost each
covered employee less than one extra dollar a week and will
ensure the integrity of the trust fund.
President Gerald R. Ford
State of the Union Address
January 19, 1976
THO to GERALD
LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
"In the budget I have recommended for fiscal 1977,
there is no cap on the cost of living increases
on Social Security. Whatever the formula provides,
there will be an increase under the law for all
beneficiaries of Social Security. I recommend it,
and I strongly favor it."
President Gerald R. Ford
The Bahia Mar Hotel
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
February 13, 1976
GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: In the budget I have recommended
for fiscal 1977, there is no cap on the cost of living
increases on Social Security. Whatever the formula provides,
there will be an increase under the law for all beneficiaries
of Social Security. I recommend it, and I strongly favor it.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 13, 1976
THE BAHIA MAR HOTEL
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA
GERALD R.
FORD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think that is an excellent
question, and it is one that ought to be answered. If we
make decisions about the integrity and certainty of the
Social Security Trust Fund on the basis of politics,
a person does not deserve to be elected President.
The truth is that everybody knows that in this
current fiscal year the receipts for taxes for the Social
Security Trust Fund are $3 billion less than the expendi-
tures, and everybody knows that next year there will be
$3. 5 billion more going out of the Trust Fund than comes
in in new taxes, and it is going to get progressively
worse under the present set-up.
Eventually, if we don't do something, there
won't be any Trust Fund for the people who are already
retired and the people who are going to retire.
Now, I don't think we ought to play politics
with that kind of situation, and I don't intend to.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
FT. MYERS EXHIBITIO
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA
GERALD
FORD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
As President, I intend to do everything in my
power to help our Nation demonstrate its deep concern for
the dignity and the well being of our older generations,
For those who need our help we have already a number of
Federal programs providing assistance in a variety of
ways.
Now, let me assure you of one thing very emphatically.
My Administration fully intends to preserve the integrity
and the solvency of the Social Security system for your
benefit and that of all working Americans, men and women,
now as well as in the future.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
WILLIAMS PARK
ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
GERALD
LIBRARY FORD A
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think that is an excellent
question, and it is one that ought to be answered. If we
make decisions about the integrity and certainty of the
Social Security Trust Fund on the basis of politics,
a person does not deserve to be elected President.
The truth is that everybody knows that in this
current fiscal year the receipts for taxes for the Social
Security Trust Fund are $3 billion less than the expendi-
tures, and everybody knows that next year there will be
$3.5 billion more going out of the Trust Fund than comes
in in new taxes, and it is going to get progressively
worse under the present set-up.
Eventually, if we don't do something, there
won't be any Trust Fund for the people who are already
retired and. the people who are going to retire.
Now, I don't think we ought to play politics
with that kind of situation, and I don't intend to.
PRESIDENT FORD
FEBRUARY 14, 1976
FT. MYERS EXHIBITION HALL
FORT MYERS, FLORIDA
GERALD
A
TORD LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, prior to the 1974
elections you indicated a need for special 5 percent
increase in income taxes. The only response you got from
the Democratic majority was that they used it against you
at the election time.
Just a few weeks ago you announced the necessity
for an increase of Social Security taxes and the cost of
Medicare. Now, no doubt the only response you will get
from the Democrats is that they will use it against you
again in November elections.
Now, while I agree with you that these increases
are a necessity, my question fromthe standpoint of
practical politics, how do you justify the timing of the
tax announcements?
THE PRESIDENT: I think that is an excellent
question, and it is one that ought to be answered. If we
make decisions about the integrity and certainty of the
Social Security Trust Fund on the basis of politics,
a person does not deserve to be elected President.
The truth is that everybody knows that in this
current fiscal year the receipts for taxes for the Social
Security Trust Fund are $3 billion less than the expendi-
tures, and everybody knows that next year there will be
$3.5 billion more going out of the Trust Fund than comes
in in new taxes, and it is going to get progressively
worse under the present set-up.
Eventually, if we don't do something, there
won't be any Trust Fund for the people who are already
retired and the people who are going to retire.
Now, I don't think we ought to play politics
with that kind of situation, and I don't intend to.
Preasident Gerald R. Ford
Fort Meyers Exhibition Hall
Fort Meyers, Florida
February 14,
1976
FORD
SOCIAL SECURITY
We are going to keep the Social Security Trust Fund
strong so that Americans in your age group don't have to worry
at your age about the tremendous problems of catastrophic
illness, and every one of us in this room has known families
or known people who have had that misfortune.
America owes it to you to make sure that you don't
have the anxiety or the cost. Let me make one final pledge
to all of you. You have done much for America and as a result
I am proud to be, you are proud to be an American, and you are
proud of America.
Our obligation is to repay the debt to you and to make
sure that America is good, is strong and a better place to live
for your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren.
That is our pledge to you.
FEBRUARY 19, 1976
PRESIDENT FORD
HARPER'S ACRES RETIREMENT
KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
GERALD
SOCIAL SECURITY AND HEALTH CARE
Excerpts of President Ford's Remarks
At Williams Park
St. Petersburg, Florida
February 14, 1976
For more than 40 years, through the vehicle of Social Security and other
programs, America has made a firm commitment of support for older Citizens
of our society.
I pledge to you this morning that I will continue to uphold that commitment.
The Social Security program, the largest of its kind in this world, will
pay almost $83 billion to more than 32 million Americans in fiscal year
1977. That is more than a $10 billion increase over the current year.
Here in Florida the Social Security Trust Fund will pay an estimated
$4,400,000 to participants in the next fiscal year. In my budget for
fiscal year 1977, I am recommending that the full cost-of-living increase
in Social Security benefits be paid during the coming year.
Now, let me assure you of one thing very emphatically. My administration
fully intends to preserve the integrity and the solvency of the Social
Security system for your benefit and that of all working Americans, men
and women, now as well as in the future.
As long as I am President, we are going to keep Social Security protection
and every other retirement program strong, sound and certain.
In the field of health care, the Federal Medicare program in 1976 will
provide more than $17 billion for the health care of 24 million older
and disabled Americans.
I have proposed major improvements in the Medicare program to make it
serve you better. One of the most important improvements is the creation
of a system of health insurance that would pay all but a very small
fraction of the catastrophic cost of complex or extended care and treatment.
I don't have to tell you that medical treatment is very, very expensive
today. Hospital costs have risen by more than 200 per cent since 1965,
to an average cost of $128 per day.
Nobody eligible for Medicare would have to pay more than $500 a year for
hospital or nursing home care, and this does not mean that you pay the
first $500 of your cost. You would pay only 10 per cent of the total cost,
or $500, whichever is less, and the maximum annual cost to you for covered
doctor's services would be $250, or 20 per cent, whichever is less.
Medicare would pay the rest, whether it costs $1,000 or $10,000 or $50,000.
It is a good program, and we are going to make it.
##
GERALD R. FORD
SOCIAL SECURITY
We are going to keep the Social Security Trust Fund
strong so that Americans in your age group don't have to worry
at your age about the tre: endows problems of catastrophic
illness, and every one of us in this room has known families
or known people who have had that misfortune.
America owes it to you to make sure that you don't
have the anxiety or the cost. Let me make one final pledge
to all of you. You have done much for America and as a result
I am proud to be, you are proud to be an American, and you are
proud of America.
Our obligation is to repay the debt to you and to make
sure that America is good, is strong and a better place to live
for your children, your grandchildren and your great grandchildren.
That is our pledge to you.
FEBRUARY 19, 1976
PRESIDENT FORD
HARPER'S ACRES RETIREMENT
yy,
KEENE, NEW HAMPSHIRE
GERALD
3
Ford
UNIVERSITY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, I would like to ask you
what you foresee is happening to the Social Security program
in both the near and the far future. More specifically in
the far future, do you ever foresee it becoming a voluntary
program?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't see it coming as a voluntary
program. I don't think it is the way to handle our Social
Security program.
On the other hand, I think we have to be cognizant
of the annual deficits that have developed between income on
the one hand and outgo on the other. This calendar year,
maybe it is the fiscal year, the deficit is about $3 billion.
Next year it will be $3.5 billion, the following year close to
$4 billion or more than $4 billion.
The net result is that if we don't do something
about it, the current $43 billion reserve fund will be
depleted because if you take $3 billion one year,
$3.5 billion the next year, $4 billion the next year, eventually
that $43 billion reserve fund is gone.
So there are three or four alternatives. You can
start tapping the general fund, which I oppose. You can
raise the wage ceiling which some propose. I don't think
that is the best answer. I recommended in January that to
make the Social Security Trust Fund secure, that we
add six-tenths of one percent to the employer and to the
employee cost which would at the maximum wage ceiling amount
to less than a dollar a week.
Now the Congress in an election year has rejected
that proposal, but that is only putting off the inevitable.
They have got to find an answer under our current beneficiary
formula. It is inevitable, something has to be done.
I thought we ought to face up to it this year even
though it is an election year, and I regret that the Congress
is not facing up to it. That is the honest and realistic
thing to do.
GERALD
&
President Ford
OHO
March 12, 1976
LIB:
Northern Illinois Newspaper Assoc.
Chicago, Illinois
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, I would like to ask you
a question on the economy. Aside from calling the Social Security
tax an insurance," what remedy do you see for reducing
the regressiveness of this tax which hurts primarily the low
and middle-income-groups?
THE PRESIDENT: The problem of the solvency of the
Social Security Trust Fund is one we have to face up to. I think
it is wise to take a look at what has been happening this
year and what will happen in the next several years unless some-
thing is done.
This year the deficit between income and outgo in
the Social Security Trust Fund is about $3 billion. Next year
it is estimated that the deficit will be $3.5 billion. It will
go up in about that range each year, and eventually if we don't
do something, the $43 billion we now have in the Trust Fund will
be emptied.
Now what are the remedies? You can go to the
general fund which will, in effect, destroy the concept that
people who get benefits have earned them, or you can do nothing,
which I think would be probably the worst alternative because
it would bring into jeopardy the benefits that people now have
and those who are working to get them.
There are several other alternatives. You can do what
the subcommittee of the House Committee ori Ways and Means did,
and then they were reversed by the full committee on Ways and
Means. They proposed that we increase the wage ceiling, which
is now, I think, $15,100, and they recommended that it go to
$17,000 something. That would be a way, but even though
the subcommittee approved, the full committee just last week
turned it down.
Now, what I have suggested, and I think it faces
up to the issue very squarely, is that we have to start now
to replenish the fund, and I have recommended that we increase the
tax paid by the employees as well as the employer busex tenths
of one percent, which would mean that the maximum.paid
in addition by any taxpayer would be less than a dollar a week.
MORE
Wheaton College
2
Social Security cont.
Wheaton College
I think it comes out to $49 a year. That is the
maximum. Now, the argument is often made that that is a
very regressive tax, and it can be argued that, but that is
only half of the argument. Because when the benefits are
paid after the person retires, that regressiveness is reversed.
The beneficiaries in the lower income spectrum get more than
the people who are in the higher income area. So although they
pay more, they in return on retirement get more. So I think it
is the best solution. It is the most open, it is the frankest,
and I think it is the honest way to approach it. Unfortunately,
I see in a political year the Congress apparently does not want
to bite the bullet, but it will have to be faced, and we might
as well face it, and the sooner the better.
President Gerald R. Ford
Wheaton College
Wheaton, Illinois
March 12, 1976
GERALD
R.
FORD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Page 2
At the present time in this 12-month period there
will be $3.5 billion more money going out of the Social
Security Trust Fund than comes in. Next year it will be
$4 billion more out than comes in.
At the present time we have roughly $40 billion
in the Social Security Trust Fund. By the early 1980s
there won't be any money in the Social Security Trust
Fund unless we do something to protect its economic
stability.
I took a hard bite at the bullet and came up with
a proposal that I think will protect the integrity of
the financial security of the Social Security Trust Fund.
Unfortunately, the Congress wants to postpone it a little
while longer. The longer they postpone it, the harder it
will get to solve the problem.
But as far as this President is concerned, he
is going to face up to that issue as he has faced up to
every other issue, and I am not going to kid you one bit.
We are going to protect the financial integrity and security
of that trust fund for the benefit of our older citizens.
Presient Gerald R. Ford
West Bend High School
April 2, 1976
GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Page 1
THE PRESIDENT: I am a firm believer in the
Social Security program. I believe that it has not only
helped immensely those who retire at 62 or 65, but I think
it has also been of great help and benefit when the husband,
for example, dies at 40 and there are survivorship benefits.
I think there are other great advantages such
as the disability portion of Social Security. I think we
must be certain and positive that the retirement benefits
and the other benefits that come from the Social Security
program are made certain, and this is where the problem
arises.
President Gerald R. Ford
West Bend High School
April 2, 1976
Received
GERALD
and
FORD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Page 1
THE PRESIDENT: I am a firm believer in the
Social Security program. I believe that it has not only
helped immensely those who retire at 62 or 65, but I think
it has also been of great help and benefit when the husband,
for example, dies at 40 and there are survivorship benefits.
I think there are other great advantages such
as the disability portion of Social Security. I think we
must be certain and positive that the retirement benefits
and the other benefits that come from the Social Security
program are made certain, and this is where the problem
arises.
President Gerald R. Ford
West Bend High School
April 2, 1976
GERALD R. FORD
LIBRARY
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
Page 2
At the present time in this 12-month period there
will be $3.5 billion more money going out of the Social
Security Trust Fund than comes in. Next year it will be
$4 billion more out than comes in.
At the present time we have roughly $40 billion
in the Social Security Trust Fund. By the early 1980s
there won't be any money in the Social Security Trust
Fund unless we do something to protect its economic
stability.
I took a hard bite at the bullet and came up with
a proposal that I think will protect the integrity of
the financial security of the Social Security Trust Fund.
Unfortunately, the Congress wants to postpone it a little
while longer. The longer they postpone it, the harder it
will get to solve the problem.
But as far as this President is concerned, he
is going to face up to that issue as he has faced up to
every other issue, and I am not going to kid you one bit.
We are going to protect the financial integrity and security
of that trust fund for the benefit of our older citizens.
Presient Gerald R. Ford
West Bend High School
April 2, 1976
GERALD
R.
FORD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think the assumption is that
when a widow marries a second time that her husband is in
a position to either support her with his Social Security
or other resources and on that basis the law from the very
beginning has precluded a widow from getting what she got
from her first husband.
That is the way the law is, and I can see where
you are suggesting it is inequitable. We have got a lot
of things of that kind. One of the grossest examples,
which is in the same area, a woman who works for five years
and then marries and actually if she continues to work,
when they retire she can't draw her Social Security.
Now, that certainly is an inequity in my judgment,
but that is unfortunately the way the law is. We have a
commission or a committee that is studying the whole thing,
including the financing of Social Security, and things of
this sort undoubtedly will come before me and before the
Congress in 1977.
PRESIDENT FORD
APRIL 9, 1976
FAIRMONT HOTEL
DALLAS, TEXAS
GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think the assumption is that
when a widow marries a second time that her husband is in
a position to either support her with his Social Security
or other resources and on that basis the law from the very
beginning has precluded a widow from getting what she got
from her first husband.
That is the way the law is, and I can see where
you are suggesting it is inequitable. We have got a lot
of things of that kind. One of the grossest examples,
which is in the same area, a woman who works for five years
and then marries and actually if she continues to work,
when they retire she can't draw her Social Security.
Now, that certainly is an inequity in my judgment,
but that is unfortunately the way the law is. We have a
commission or a committee that is studying the whole thing,
including the financing of Social Security, and things of
this sort undoubtedly will come before me and before the
Congress in 1977.
PRESIDENT FORD
APRIL 9, 1976
FAIRMONT HOTEL
DALLAS, TEXAS
Ford
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: I think the assumption is that
when a widow marries a second time that her husband is in
a position to either support her with his Social Security
or other resources and on that basis the law from the very
beginning has precluded a widow from getting what she got
from her first husband.
That is the way the law is, and I can see where
you are suggesting it is inequitable. We have got a lot
of things of that kind. One of the grossest examples,
which is in the same area, a woman who works for five years
and then marries and actually if she continues to work,
when they retire she can't draw her Social Security.
Now, that certainly is an inequity in my judgment,
but that is unfortunately the way the law is. We have a
commission or a committee that is studying the whole thing,
including the financing of Social Security, and things of
this sort undoubtedly will come before me and before the
Congress in 1977.
PRESIDENT FORD
APRIL 9, 1976
FAIRMONT HOTEL
DALLAS, TEXAS
FORD H. GERALD
LIBRARY
OLDER AMER CANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: The Social Security program, which
became law in 1933 or 1934, as I recall, was initially
predicated on the basis that it was not to be your total
retirement income but as a base or a floor, but in the
ensuing years that initial concept that was put forward
by President Roosevelt has been forgotten and, in most cases,
today your Social Security benefits in effect are the total
retirement income of many, many people.
Now the net result is that benefits have increased
substantially and the consequence is that the Social Security
Trust Fund, which today is at a level of approximately $45
billion or $41 billion, is gradually being decreased. As
a matter of fact, in this 12-month period there will be &
deficit between income and outgo of $3 billion.
In the next 12-month period the deficit will be
$3-1/2 billion. In the next 12-month period, the deficit
will be $4 billion. So that $40 billion OF $41 billion
Social Security Trust Fund will be gone in a relatively
short period of time.
Now what should we do about it? There are
basically three alternatives Humber one, we can increase
the tax on both employer and employee. I think this is the
most straightforward, the most honest way to approach it,
and I recommended that to the Congress.
And what does it amount to? For each employee
and employer ---- for each individual employee it means less
than $49 per year. That is what the extra cost would be
to make the Social Security Trust Fund on an equitable and
a sound basis.
PRESIDENT FORD
APRIL 23, 1976
PEACHTREE HIGH SCHOOL
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
OLDER AMER CANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
THE PRESIDENT: The Social Security program, which
became law in 1933 or 1934, as I recall, was initially
predicated on the basis that it was not to be your total
retirement income but as a base or a floor, but in the
ensuing years that initial concept that was put forward
by President Roosevelt has been forgotten and, in most cases,
today your Social Security benefits in effect are the total
retirement income of many, many people.
Now the net result is that benefits have increased
substantially and the consequence is that the Social Security
Trust Fund, which today is at a level of approximately $40
billion or $41 billion, is gradually being decreased. As
a matter of fact, in this 12-month period there will be a
deficit between income and outgo of $3 billion.
In the next 12-month period the deficit will be
$3-1/2 billion. In the next 2..month period, the deficit
will be $4 billion. So that $40 billion or $41 billion
Social Security Trust Fund will be gone in a relatively
short period of time.
Now what should we do about it? There are
basically three alternatives: Number one, we can increase
the tax on both employer and employee. I think this is the
most straightforward, the most honest way to approach it,
and I recommended that to the Congress.
And what does it amount to? For each employee
and employer ---- for each individual employee it means less
than $49 per year. That is what the extra cost would be
to make the Social Security Trust Fund on an equitable and
a sound basis.
PRESIDENT FORD
APRIL 23, 1976
PEACHTREE HIGH SCHOOL
ATLANTA, GEORGIA
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
The Social Security program, the largest of its
kind in the world, will pay almost $83 billion to more the
32 million Americans in this next fiscal year. This is
more - - and I emphasize more --- than a $10 Million increase
over the current year. And, of course, I subject many of
you know -- but I want to reemphasize it to show my commine
ment -- in my budget for the next fiscal year. which be
October 1, 1976, I am recommending that the full cost O
living increase in Social Security benefits in paid in
that year.
For more than 40 years, through the vehicle 0'
Social Security and other programs, the Federal Governmen
has made a firm commitment of support for older citizens
of our society. I pledge to you that I will continue will it
hesitation, reservation, to uphold that commitment.
OHIO'S GOVERNORS' CONFERENCE ON AGING
THE STATE FAIRGROUNDS
MAY 26, 1976
FORD A. LIBRARY GERALD
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, I would like to ask you
what ou foresee is happening to the Social Security program
in botn the near and the far future. More specifically in
the far future, do you ever foresee it becoming a voluntary
program?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't see it coming as a voluntary
program. I don't think it is the way to handle our Social
Security program.
On the other hand, I think we have to be cognizant
of the annual deficits that have developed between income on
the one hand and outgo on the other. This calendar year,
maybe it is the fiscal year, the deficit is about $3 billion.
Next year it will be $3.5 billion, the following year close to
$4 billion or more than 34 billion.
The net result is that if we don't do something
about it, the current $113 billion reserve fund will be
depleted because if you take $3 billion one year,
$3.5 billion the next year, $4 billion the next year, eventually
that $43 billion reserve fund is gone.
So there are three or four alternatives. You can
start tapping the general fund, which I oppose. You can
raise the wage ceiling which some propose. I don't think
that is the best answer. I recommended in January that to
make the Social Security Trust Fund secure, that we
add six-tenths of one percent to the employer and to the
employee cost which would at the maximum wage coiling amount
to less than a dollar a week.
Now the Congress in an election year has rejected
that proposal, but that is only putting off the inevitable.
They have got to find an answer under our current beneficiary
formula. It is inevitable, something has to be done.
I thought we ought to face up to it this year even
though it is an election year, and I regret that the Congress
is not facing up to it. That 1S the honest and realistic
thing to do.
FORD R. GERALD
Chicago, Illinois
LIBRANA
OLDER AMERICANS
SOCIAL SECURITY
QUESTION: Mr. President, I would like to ask you
what ou foresee is happening to the Social Security program
in both the near and the far future. More specifically in
the far future, do you ever foresee it becoming a voluntary
program?
THE PRESIDENT: I don't see it coming as a voluntary
program. I don't think it is the way to handle our Social
Security program.
On the other hand, I think we have to be cognizant
of the annual deficits that have developed between income on
the one hand and outgo on the other. This calendar year,
maybe it is the fiscal year, the deficit is about $3 billion.
Next year it will be $3.5 billion, the following year close to
$4 billion or more than 34 billion.
The net result is that if we don't do something
about it, the current $113 billion reserve fund will be
depleted because if you take $3 billion one year,
$3.5 billion the next year, $4 billion the next year, eventually
that $43 billion reserve fund is gone.
So there are three or four alternatives. You can
start tapping the general fund, which I oppose. You can
raise the wage ceiling which some propose. I don't think
that is the best answer. I recommended in January that to
make the Social Security Trust Fund secure, that we
add six-tenths of one percent to the employer and to the
employee cost which would at the maximum wage coiling amount
to less than a dollar a week.
Now the Congress in an election year has rejected
that proposal, but that is only putting off the inevitable.
They have got to find an answer under our current beneficiary
formula. It is inevitable, something has to be done.
I thought we ought to face up to it this year even
though it is an election year, and I regret that the Congress
is not facing up to it. That 1S the honest and realistic
thing to do.
GERALD
FORD
Chicago, Illinois