Concerned Americans Will Highlight New Report on Impact of

Privatization in Anticipation of Social Security's 73rd Birthday on August

14th



    WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 /EMWNews/ -- Current and future Social

Security recipients are coming together at more than 45 events over the

next 7 days all across the country to sound the alarm on the economic

impact of the McCain-Bush plan to privatize Social Security. The events

will take place as Social Security, the most successful anti-poverty

program in history, approaches its 73rd birthday on August 14th.



    



    Events will take place from Alaska to Florida, from Louisiana to

Oregon, from Michigan to Georgia and will feature current and former

elected officials together with Americans concerned over the incredible

burden families in every state would face without Social Security. A new

report (http://www.ourfuture.org/report/2008083204/perils-privatization

)from the Institute for America's Future, a non-profit think tank, outlines

the economic impact Americans in every state would face without the funding

for basic necessities Social Security now provides.



    Among the report's findings, Social Security privatization would cut

lifetime benefits by almost half a million dollars, and would make 8.6

million senior citizens vulnerable to poverty.



    "The fact there are more than 45 events taking place across the country

in the next few days is a testament to the American people's steadfast

resistance to the Bush-McCain doctrine of privatization," said DNC Chairman

Howard Dean. "With unemployment up, foreclosures skyrocketing, and the

national debt at record levels, the last eight years have proven you just

can't trust Republicans with your money. We certainly shouldn't trust John

McCain to gamble our Social Security trust fund in the stock market. Every

American deserves to retire with dignity, and that's the promise of Social

Security. It's a promise the American people didn't allow George W. Bush to

break, and won't allow John McCain to break either."



    The following is a sampling of the events taking place around the

country:



    -- AK: Concerned citizens and Anchorage seniors will hold a Retirement

Security Forum at the Anchorage Senior Center.



    -- GA: First Congressional District Chair Tony Center and Chatham

County Democratic Party Chair Karen Arms will join concerned citizens in

Savannah's Johnson Square off Bull Street.



    -- ID: Former Gov. Cecil D. Andrus will join concerned citizens and

seniors on the green lawn behind The Log Cabin (by the Boise River near the

Anne Frank Human Rights Center).



    -- IN: Congressman Andre Carson will speak on the need to continue

protecting Hoosier families from the dangers of Social Security

privatization at the East end of Veterans Memorial Plaza directly across

from the Federal Building in Indianapolis.



    -- LA: State Senator and Congressional Candidate Don Cravins Jr. will

join concerned citizens outside the Lake Charles Social Security Office.



    -- MI: Senator Carl Levin will join current and future Social Security

recipients at the Salter Community Center in Royal Oak, MI.



    -- MS: Barbara Blackmon, Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Democratic Party

will join Social Security recipients on the first-floor rotunda of the

Mississippi Capitol in Jackson.



    -- NC: Roundtable with senior activists and experts in aging including

Jean Reaves, immediate past president of the North Carolina Coalition on

Aging, Jerry Cooper, Executive Director of the North Carolina Assisted

Living Association, and Reva McNair, President of Senior Democrats of North

Carolina.



    -- OR: Democratic Party of Oregon Chair Meredith Wood Smith will join

concerned citizens at Pioneer Courthouse Square in downtown Portland.



    -- PA: Sen. Bob Casey will join current and future Social Security

recipients in downtown Philadelphia.



    Paid for and authorized by the Democratic National Committee,

http://www.democrats.org.



    This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's

committee.