Printable Version
State of the Union Response
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
For Immediate Release
January 28, 2008
President Bush’s Last State of the
Union a “Missed
Opportunity”
Alliance for Retired Americans
“Disappointed” by Lack of New Social
Security and Medicare Ideas
The
following statement was issued today by George
J. Kourpias, President of the Alliance for
Retired Americans, in response to President
Bush’s final State of the Union
address.
Retired Americans, in a time of
great economic anxiety, were looking to
President Bush for a sign that he would use his
last year in office to address the deepening
divide in our economy and in our society.
In that context, we were sorely disappointed in
tonight’s speech.
We worry not only
about our retirement, but also what the future
holds in store for our children and
grandchildren. Rising health care and
prescription costs, the gyrations of the stock
market, and above-inflation increases in energy
and transportation threaten the stability of
the retirement we worked so hard to
achieve. Disappearing pensions and
retiree health care are putting more holes in
the retirement security safety net. We
worry that we may be the last generation to
ever retire. The incremental, band-aid
proposals in tonight’s speech fall tragically
short of what the American people
need.
President Bush’s final State of
the Union address invariably sparks discussion
of what his legacy will be. For retirees,
two things come quickly to mind. First,
the 2003 Medicare Modernization Act, which
according to the New York Times, led to “a
financial windfall larger than the even the
most optimistic Wall Street analysts had
predicted.” Second, in the
President’s eight-year crusade to privatize
Social Security, we saw a similar view that
what retirees count on – Medicare and Social
Security – are seen by the Bush
Administration as two more opportunities to
enrich big corporations at the expense of those
most in need. The recent turmoil in the
stock market is yet another reminder of the
dangers of turning over Social Security to Wall
Street.
For retirees, the Bush
Administration’s legacy is one of enabling a
culture of corporate greed at the expense of
seniors. Tonight’s speech was a missed
opportunity to reverse this neglect of older
Americans before things get worse. It is
disappointing that the President had no new
ideas to ensure Social Security and Medicare
remain secure for future generations. It was
one more day, in a long line of many days, of
playing politics at the expense of the American
people.
Contact: Marcie Kohenak
(202) 637-5178 or mkohenak@retiredamericans.org