Violates Social Security idea

Sen. Obama’s plan to “fix” Social Security will violate two underlying principles of the system created by Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

FDR capped the amount of income subject to the payroll tax to establish a link between the tax we pay and the benefit we receive. The current cap is $102,000. Obama’s doughnut-hole approach will apply the $102,000 cap on people earning up to $250,000. Income over $250,000 will be subject to the full 12.4 percent tax. The result will be a system where, in effect, the link between tax paid and benefit received is broken. High-end earners will end up subsidizing a greater portion of the benefit paid to low- and median-wage earners. Obama’s plan dishonors FDR’s fairness principle.

FDR did not want Social Security to become a welfare program. Many retirees argue that their Social Security check is not welfare; it’s a moral claim on the taxes they transferred to previous generations. This is a weak argument because most people pay into the system as low- and median-wage workers. According to Social Security data, low- and median-wage workers take out substantially more over their lifetime than they paid in. Their moral claim will only get weaker under the Obama plan. A greater portion of their benefit will come from someone else’s contribution.

Contrast the Obama scheme to FDR’s stated intention that Social Security be a source of individual security through “individual efforts.”

Obama is no FDR. Imposing unfairness and growing the welfare state are not changes we should believe in.

Gordon L. Shadle, Albany

How about an eco-city here?

Maybe Albany could get the United Arab Emirates interested in developing an eco-city in the Willamette Valley.

They have the money, we have some space and a population that would be excited about it. CH2MHill is managing this project in the UAE and they have an office in Corvallis. If HP pulls the plug in Corvallis, such a project could certainly provide a needed and considerable economic stimulus for the area.

Details about the Masdar eco-city describe a carbon-neutral, zero-waste city currently under construction in Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Automobiles will be prohibited, with transportation provided by personal rapid transit, light rail, Segways, bicycles and walking. It will be powered entirely by renewable energy.

Jerry Schneider, Salem

Reminded of Baruch’s wisdom

I don’t know how many people read the “Thought for Today” feature near the bottom of the editorial page, but those who do frequently find some ideas to ponder.

For example, the offering for Tuesday, June 17, was from Bernard Baruch, the late American businessman and statesman: “During my 87 years I have witnessed a whole succession of technological revolutions. But none of them has done away with the need for character in the individual or the ability to think.”

The need is still present but, sadly, there is an obvious absence of those two vital attributes in the fields that Mr. Baruch excelled in. (Include politics in the category of statesmanship.)

Ironically, this gem of wisdom appeared close to a cartoon of a robot entering a Human Resources department. Please, let’s not abandon those essential virtues as we embrace technology.

Lori McNulty, Lebanon

Wrong on wiretap bill

So DeFuzzio voted against allowing our executive branch to take reasonable actions to protect us from radical Islamists. I’m pleased DeFuzzio is well in the minority.

Also well pleased that President Bush held steady on the “wiretap” legislation demanding immunity for U.S. companies for helping the executive branch protect us for the last seven years. All the left-wing lawyers who filed lawsuits against the executive branch will have to find another cause to bleed money from us.

Bush held firm against knuckleheads like DeFuzzio who to this day refuse to recognize and deal effectively with the threat. Democrats are widely viewed as weak on national security and DeFuzzio’s vote reaffirms that reality.

Now we hear Obama say: Gee, we used our courts to convict the blind nut who bombed the world trade center the first time, so let’s just stop the war and let the police and courts deal with the worldwide threat.

Please connect these dots: Because we used only our court system in the Clinton years to address the threat,we were viewed as stupid, weak and vulnerable, therefore 9/11 happened.

Perhaps the “wiretap” legislation will improve the Democrat-controlled House’s approval rating, which is 10 percent lower than Bush’s.

Tom Cordier, Albany