Senator McCain's Disgrace of Social Security

The following statement was issued today by Sally Steagall, the Treasurer of the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans.

Today members of the Ohio Alliance for Retired Americans stood together in Cincinnati to let citizens of our state know that, unlike Senator John McCain, we do not think Social Security is a disgrace.

Two million Ohio residents receive Social Security benefits – these are the elderly, the widows and widowers, and the children of deceased parents in our state. None of them should feel they are part of a disgrace. Social Security is a truly American success story – it has kept millions out of poverty.

Social Security is an inter-generational compact, an understanding that we are a nation in which Americans support one another. That is the American spirit, but apparently Senator McCain does not feel the same way.

Senator McCain’s comments were grossly insensitive to the mounting economic anxieties facing Buckeye state seniors. We call upon elected officials in Ohio to say whether they too believe that Social Security is “an absolute disgrace.”

“Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.”

- John McCain, July 7, 2008