Age defines perception, reception of Bush's plan

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-02-16-young-benefits_x.htm

Age defines perception, reception of Bush's plan
By Susan Page, USA TODAY

BALTIMORE — Betty Wise, who has seen her Social Security check arrive like clockwork every month for two decades, can't imagine why anyone would contemplate big changes to the program. Her granddaughter, who suspects she may never get a Social Security check, can't imagine why anybody would want to keep it the same.
Melissa Wise, 18, assumes that the nation's retirement system will be seriously short of money by the time she'll be ready to collect. So why not try something different?
<snip>

Even the AARP, the lobbying behemoth for the graying that opposes the proposal, plans to air TV and radio ads aimed not at the group's members but at their children and grandchildren.

"Young people are the linchpin of the whole issue, the linchpin of the political strategy for both sides," Riemer says. For advocates of investment accounts, "their whole strategy is to get seniors to sit it out and get young people to bite."

Maybe so, but young people acknowledge that they know less about Social Security than their elders — and care less. They are understandably more focused on beginning their careers than on financing their retirement. Many have trouble envisioning a day when they might be old and needy. <snip>

USA TODAY/CNN/Gallup poll
Should people be allowed to invest part of their Social Security taxes in the stock market and bonds?

Age Good idea Bad idea
18-29 49% 47%
30-49 55% 33%
50-64 63% 31%
65 and older 31% 64%


Now, she says, she would like to see Social Security establish a bank account for each person at the moment they apply for a Social Security card, a fireman's boot with compound interest. The current system is pay-as-you-go, with current workers financing benefits for current retirees. "Everybody would have their own," she says, "and you would know it was there."<snip>
On the other hand, some political strategists see the Social Security debate as a golden opportunity for Republicans to connect with younger voters. It is a chance to win the allegiance of a generation that has leaned toward the Democrats.<snip>