Cape May County Herald, 1 December 1982 IIIF issue link — Page 30

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Social Security Gamble Has Been JLost

Samuel IVi. Stubbs

On July 26. If74; the Social Security Administrator ad- ' vised Senator Carl T Curtis. < R-Neb.), the senior member of the Senate Finance Committee, that the deficit in Social Security funding would "exceed $60 billion dollars by 19(79 " In other words, the Social Security Trust funds are gone and here we are in 1962 trying to salvage the basic idea of the system. 0 • In 1935 Congress decided that arty taxpayer having paid_ into the Social Security System atjd reached the age of 65 «• years, but not having qualified for behefits for some reason, could get back all money he had paid into the fund In 1939 Congress canceled the promised refunds. The.real nature of the governments prOtnise began to take shape None of the promises made to the American worker can be taken for granted In 1966 the ynited States Supreme Court decided a cas# in favor of the government — stating that the Congress has the- right to .take benefits away from- anyone Defenders of the Social Security System have constantly stated that our rights are "backed by legal recikJrec in the courts for payment.This means only that Congress must deal fairly in dividing up those benefits they choow to pay each year One Congress is not held to the promises madeby \ previous Congress, so says the U.S. Supreme Court. TODAY. WE ARE TOED, we have a system that is inflation proof The law states the so-called automatic i benefit increases cannot be granted unless taxes are raised to meet them • that same year Our elected representatives have 1 formulated a plan which keeps present recipients of Social Security checks happy as checks seem to be getting better, and escape the blame for the tax hikes because they are automatic, announced by computors. The Social Security administrators have bet our reserves and lost. The system consumes money faster than it raises it, and more and more cash is needed just to keep the deficits from'growing faster than the benefits. A system with no reserves has no options; no one can be allowed to leave the system for it iswstimateda 10% drop-

(Page 31 Please)

Banning ‘Maybes’ Endless Process

hy fei'la A. Mrrrill

Our bright elected officials are coming up with another

dilly — ban kerosene heaters.

They have the audacity to tell us we’re stupid idipts. Maybe there are some morons yvho can’t or won't read instructions for the use pf a product, but these Mime people

wouldn’t read the instructions for any product

Next, they will have as gnawing potato peels, we might

'cut ojitselves with a knife. • /

Maybe less eating, we might accidentally poisoft someone. or maybe we’re loo dumb to remember to chew

our food, and choke

Maytx* ban breathing. .

The maybe * are endless. Give them time—they’ll think

of them all.

Undo Merrill is a Villas resident. Green Cans AWS by Vincent McMahon Th&American Welfare Society of Cape May County would like to advise anyone donating to A.W.A. orange colored cans in stores is NOT helping the animals in Cape May County as the A.W.A. is from near Camden. Why should we support thefh when we have our own Kennel to support in Dias Creek? We would ask your support of our own Kennel, please. Look for the GREEN cans A.W.S. if you care to donate. V. McMahon writes from Villas.

The State We're' In

New Coastal Barrier Act A Milestone

"'S' nt CA*»E MAY II I -V ^ frUralfr PaMkbHKvrry WrtBMdavRy P.O. Hoi* ' TV Wf CarycaU— Aval—.NJMSM Jacob Schaad Jr. Managing Editor Ronhie Reina General Manager John Dunwoody Advertising Coordinator Darrell Kopp Publisher Ct»p Ail ••tarvad All (Hapafty fight* lo. contanti ot •*!.. pwirixancm (hall ba lha (KOoafty ol lha Wowova Carp Mo pottharaaf bo ropfodvcod wifhowl pdO^wnMan contant DEADLINES New* & Photo* Thursday Advertising Friday - 3 p.m. Classified Advertising Friday - 3 p.m. I —7-33lit For New* Or Advertising Information | NtMVr parOrtpaUn* adirrlhrr* nor Ibr pvMMhrrt of ihr HKRAI.il AND I.AVTfrRN will V irtpondhlr or llabl* lor mlalnlormalkm. miiprtnta. Ivpoprapblral rrrorv etr.. In any l(«ur Thr rdltor rr»rrwA> IV rl*lll lo rdH any Ifllrr or artlrlr* (tthmIUrrf lor publka -^LANTERN ~

Publiahed K%W( Wnlnroday By ^V Sraoavr Carporalion

By David F. Moore * OCT. 18 WAS a date which deserves memorialization. That’s when President Reagan signed the Coastal Barrier Resources Act. described by the New York Times as the "first major new coaservation law of his administration.” For the past several yeaf-s I’ve been tracing the path of the legislation which became law in October. It Is designed to protect those strips of sand between the sea and bays which are known as barrier islands. Much of the New Jersey, shore is barrier island,>but

most of those islands’are hard to recognize as such because they are covered by houses, hotels and the like. But they are islands all right, and remain very fragile despit? the works of man. In many cases man's works actually make them more susceptible to storm action because of tampering with the natural sand dunes and beachfront. IVe written here in the past about barrier islands and the need to nurture them rather than wreck them. (Page 31 Please)

WINTER IS ON ITS WAV, a> this ban-™ aceiw along Roulo (. Swalirton, Indicate. Farmer s Almanac predict snowy year, but will Cape May Comity be able to escape the white stall again, as It did most ol last winter?

View Point Why Not Sales Tax Figures? by Jane Ann Canningham According to a recent newspaper article, the state of New Jersey is sending to the federal government a list of '•'■drivers’ licenses issued to males of the age groups affected by draft registration to find those who have not registered. This raises a number of interesting speculations. If the state is able to retrieve this information from its computers, why is it impossible for it to release sales tax figures by region? For years, resort areas have asked the state for breakdowns, to give some indication of the value of tourism to the state as a whole. State officials have replied that it was an impossible task. It seems to me that if they can separate males bom between certain dates from all licensed drivers, it would be easy to obtain sales tax figures from Zip codes. Do you suppose they just do not want shore resort areas to have this information? There is also the ethical, if not constitutional, question of whether this information about male drivers should be used in this manner. A few states have refused to divulge the statistics, considering it a violation of privacy. With so much information about each of us stored in computers, an individual’s right to privacy will be non-existent if any branch of government can have access to information collected by every other branch. Jane Ann Cunningham is the former publisher of the Herald.

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’Take It From Me. Kid You Build A Better Mouse Trap And The World Will Start Pulling For The Mouse ”