Opinion articles provide independent perspectives on key community issues, separate from our newsroom reporting.

Letters to the Editor

Don’t let GOP destroy Social Security

Fresno protesters make their feelings clear leading up to a fund-raising dinner for then GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan at the Ernest Valdez Exhibit Hall in September 2012.
Fresno protesters make their feelings clear leading up to a fund-raising dinner for then GOP vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan at the Ernest Valdez Exhibit Hall in September 2012. The Fresno Bee file

President Trump and Speaker Paul Ryan want to destroy Social Security. Go figure, literally:

▪ Those of us who depend primarily upon Social Security spend all, or nearly all, of what we receive, guaranteeing the circulation of money and thereby helping keep the economic ship afloat.

▪ Social Security, in addition, unburdens younger, income-earning adults by providing economic independence to their aging parents. This has a stabilizing effect on families.

▪ Finally, if tiresome in the repetition, Social Security is not a hand-out. It is being primarily funded by the FICA tax. The extreme right seeks to abolish and replace it with a phony, unstable, potentially corrupting stock market-funded scheme.

Please, readers, speak up for Social Security. Its benefits flow to all.

Kathleen Miles, Fresno

This story was originally published April 14, 2017 at 2:11 PM with the headline "Don’t let GOP destroy Social Security."

Get unlimited digital access
#ReadLocal

Try 1 month for $1

CLAIM OFFER