Edwards: Plan afoot to push retirement age to 72

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Edwards: Plan afoot to push retirement age to 72

The candidate cites a 'Fortune' article on a 'percolating' plan.

 

By Thomas R. Collins

 

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

 

Sunday, October 24, 2004

 

ORLANDO — Vice presidential candidate John Edwards launched into a new

attack on his foes here on Saturday, warning a crowd outside a union

hall of reports that the Social Security Administration is considering

a plan to raise the retirement age from 65 to 72.

 

Such a plan would be an insensitive slap in the face to Americans

who've worked hard their whole lives only to be told they needed to

keep working for several more years, Edwards said.

 

" We believe that if you help build this country, this country ought to

reward you for your hard work, " Edwards said.

 

Edwards' remarks — repeated a couple of hours later at a rally in St.

Petersburg, the last stop on a five-city, 600-mile tour through

Florida — came in response to a recent article in Fortune magazine.

 

What Edwards didn't say was that the article actually lauded a new

plan " percolating " within the Social Security Administration. The

article reported that " nothing's official. " But the plan involves

allowing individuals to pay one-sixth of the money now going into

Social Security into accounts similar to a 401(k).

 

To pay for that shortfall, people wouldn't receive full benefits until

age 72, and early retirement benefits could be received at age 68, up

from age 62.

 

The plan was reported and analyzed by a Phillip Longman, senior fellow

at the New America Foundation, which describes itself as a nonprofit,

nonpartisan group. Longman concludes it is a better alternative to

Kerry's plan of not touching the Social Security program and to Bush's

plan to allow younger workers to pay into voluntary personal

retirement accounts instead of Social Security.

 

The plan would be less risky than other options, might encourage

people to delay retirement, and would give people at least a good

chance at being able to retire early if they choose to do so, Longman

writes.

 

That didn't stop Edwards from trying to reap rewards from the article.

He said he wondered how Bush and Cheney could go to a mill like the

one his father worked at in South Carolina and tell workers they'll

have to delay retirement.

 

" Only someone who's never worked in a factory for 40 years would say

that, " Edwards said. " Only someone who's never built a road in

90-degree heat would say that. "

 

His comments fell on friendly ears in Orlando. Officials with the

AFL-CIO at the event said this election year has generated the largest

union mobilization of any presidential campaign.

 

The effort includes 4,000 union members going door-to-door, handing

out leaflets, and engaging in a phone campaign, AFL-CIO spokeswoman

Esmeralda Aguilar said. Union officials are distressed by a Bush term

that has seen the loss of 63,000 manufacturing jobs and 23,000

information technology jobs in Florida alone, Aguilar said.

 

" It just shows you how much working families need a change, are

clamoring for a change, " Aguilar said.

 

Edwards also continued to urge the crowds to vote early and bring

friends and family with them to vote early.

 

After the St. Petersburg event, Edwards reassured worried Florida

voters that the campaign will make sure everybody's vote counts and

that a top legal team will be waiting in the wings. But he hoped it

wouldn't matter.

 

" If our voters turn out to vote, it's not going to be close this

time, " he said, sitting on a couch in a hotel suite sipping a Diet Coke.

 

Edwards flew to Ohio after the St. Petersburg event, with the top half

of his ticket on his heels.

 

Presidential nominee John Kerry will appear in Fort Lauderdale and

Boca Raton today.