As Americans, we find ourselves in the midst of an unprecedented campaign by the president and his friends in big business to convince us that the Social Security system is irretrievably broken, busted, bankrupt. Just how bad is this “crisis”? Well, actually not that bad compared to Medicare, Medicaid, the national debt, the war, the value of the dollar and healthcare.

The Social Security trustees say the system will experience its first shortfall in 2018 and that by 2042 it will be able to cover only 73 percent of promised benefits. However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) adds 10 years to those projections and believes that nearly half a century from now (2052) the system still will have enough reserves to pay full benefits and will be able to cover 80 percent of benefits after that.

The CBO projects that the trust fund could be solvent into the 22nd century (with no change in benefits) with additional revenue of less than 3 percent of federal spending. That’s less than we currently are spending in Iraq and a quarter of the annual impact of Bush’s tax cuts.

Less draconian measures could be taken. Social Security taxes are not collected on income exceeding $90,000 a year. Tweak it: Lift the $90,000 cap, boost the rate of taxation slightly or consider authorizing the Social Security Administration to hire professional money managers to invest a portion of FICA taxes for a greater return than Treasury securities produce (like your state retirement system).

A few simple and reasonable changes to the exisiting Social Security program would make President Bush’s proposal unnecessary. The only losers would be the big investment and insurance companies who are lining up to rake in huge profits from millions of potential account holders.

—D.K.