Weber State College Comment, April1988, Page 3 Ray Bradbury Stay true to loves, author says comic strips. “Two or three weeks later I broke into tears one day, and I said to myself, why am I crying? Who’s dying? And the answer was me because I had torn up the future. “TJ said to myself, ‘I’m not going to listen to those fools, those idiots. From now on I’m going to go the way I want to go and collect Buck Rogers comic strips and to hell with them.’ I collected Buck Rogers Social “IT want you to remember whatI say,and when you leave stay in love with the craziest, nuttiest, most insane thing that you’ve ever loved and never let go, and you'll havea good life.” Ray Bradbury books he could find, and had “memorized every single one. My friends would run away from me when they saw me coming because they were afraid I was going to quote them Tarzan,” he said. The carnival came to Bradbury’s boyhood town that year and added one more affection to his growing list of loves. The carnival featured a man, Mr. Electrico, who sat in an electric chair while electricity raced through his body. “I went to see him every night,” he said. Mr. Electrico gave the young Bradbury a personal tour of the carnival, “and he gave me a wonderful gift. He looked me in the face, and said, ‘You know, we’ve Some recent studies show that many senior citizens, those who have the greatest interest and most important stake in social security, have regained their confidence in the system, and that confidence is well-founded since social security is in excellent financial shape. Despite gloom and doom headlines of the not too distant past, I can report that the system is not only alive and well, but healthier than it has been in years. For example, in 1988 we expect to take in about $260 billion in revenues and pay billion in benefits and administrative expenses. That $40 billion margin, coupled with the reserves already on hand, will give the system a $110 billion cushion by the end of the year. However, social security is no longer an issue that affects only older Americans. More than ever, young workers and taxpayers are concerned about the future of the program. We know from several public opinion pools that although senior citizens are beginning to regain confidence in the program, young workers still are convinced social security won’t be around when they become eligible for benefits. I want to reassure them that we are working hard to ensure that social met before. You were my best friend in the great war of 1918 in France and you died in my arms in the battle of the Ardennes Forest. Now you’re back in the world with a new body and a new face, but the soul shining out through your eyes is the soul of my friend who died so many years ago.” “T don’t know why the man did this, but I began to write within eight weeks after that and I’ve never stopped in the last 56 years. I’ve written every single day,” Bradbury said. The next year, when Bradbury was 13, the World’s Fair was built in Chicago, and the young author frequently visited the fair’s pavilions. “Here was the future. When I went home on the train at night I cried all the way home because I didn’t want to leave the world of the future, so I built the future in my own back yard with architectures. But I put Christmas tree lights in it and it burnt down,” he said. Staying true to his loves brought a high price, he said. His high school classmates shunned him. “They called me Buck Rogers. Imagine how lonely I was in 1936, 37, 38. The space age was no where. Mr. Goodard had only sent up a rocket 400 feet.” But Bradbury did not spend all his teen years in utter isolation. He met Ray Harryhausen, the man who later directed such films as “Clash of the Titans,” “Jason and the Argonauts,” “Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger,” Mysterious Island,” and others. Harryhausen built dinosaurs in his garage and then animated them through motion pictures. “It was great. This dinosaur would run around Ray’s front yard and eat up his father. I tried to hire the dinosaur to come home and eat my father. We vowed to stay true to our loves and to each other and I would write the screen plays and he would animate them and we would both be famous. That’s the way it worked out.” . Along the way Bradbury added the Bible, Shakespeare, Jules Verne and a wife to his list of loves, he said. Some years after his marriage Bradbury and his wife were walking along the California beach. The carnival had just been torn down, but the skeleton of the roller coaster still stood. “T said to my wife, ‘I wonder what that dinosaur is doing lying dead here on the beach.’ She was very careful not to answer. Three nights later in the middle of the nightI woke up because something had called me awake. Way outinthe Santa Monica bay a fog horn was blowing over, and over again. I said, “Yes, that’s it.’ The dinosaur heard the fog horn blowing and thought it was another dinosaur risen from a billion years of dreaming and sleeping, swam for an encounter with the other beast, discovered it was only a damned light house and a damned fog horn, tore the whole thing down and died of a broken heart on the beach.” The story of that dinosaur, “The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms,” appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and was the first major publication for Bradbury. who was see BRADBURY Security: Editor’s Note: The following isan edited version of remarks made by Dorcus R. Hardy, the U.S. Commissioner of Social Security, during a “Think Break” at Weber State sponsored by the WSC Honors Program. out about $220 and made my life whole, and I have not listened to one damn idiot after that,” Bradbury said. By age 12 he had read all the Tarzan Good news security will be there for all of us when we retire. Our current projections indicate the trust fund reserves will increase significantly over the next several decades, reaching more than $1 trillion by the year 2000, and about $12 trillion by the year 2030. Those reserves will be needed to meet the strain that will be put on the system when the baby boom generation reaches retirement age. Unfortunately, by the early 21st Century, social security will be emptying out its multi-trillionsollar trust fund ata much faster rate. By the year 2025 we will be paying out more than $3.5 trillion benefits each year, or almost $10 billion a day. Our long-range projections, if they are correct, indicate that the program faces another financial crunch around the year 2040, and some problems will begin even sooner, around the year 2020 or so. However, I should mention that those long-range projections are based on a six percentunemploymentrate, a four percent per year inflation rate, and an assumption of 1.9 or two children per woman. Significant changes in those figures could dramatically alter the financial situation of the trust funds. In short, a crisis, similar to the one we faced from 1978 through 1982, could come earlier. As we debate the future of social security it’s imperative that we consider the pros and cons of any future changes. Yet, at the same time, we cannot forget our commitment to our current beneficiaries. Let me give youan ideaof social security’s impact on our economy, and show you — | Dorcus R.Hardy U.S. Commissioner of Social Security, speaks in Ogden. and on page 8 bad many more billions of dollars in social security taxes to cover those obligations and to strengthen trust fund reserves. But despite our best public information efforts, some people are still confused about the way the program works. They continue to think of social security as a bank, and assume that checking or savings accounts are established for them when they get their social security cards. Once they retire, many think they’re drawing money out of social security accounts to which they contributed while working. Social security is not a savings account. In fact, a65 year-old worker who has paid taxes on the maximum amount of covered earnings throughout his or her career has paid $26,044 in social security taxes through 1987. If that worker retired in January 1988 he or she would receive a $19 billion each month, or $600 million every day. Although we’re paying out billions of dollars in benefits, the good news for social security’s current beneficiaries and future recipients is that we’re collecting ie ite, social security benefit of $838 per month, and could expect to recover their tax contribution and the interest that would how it is already woven into our lives. Social security expenditures account for about one-fifth of the entire federal budget. Currently there are more than 40 million social security beneficiaries and supplemental security income recipients. That figure represents about one out of every six people in this country. Together, those beneficiaries will receive about $220 billion this year. That’s almost es have been payable in only four or five years. Based on average life expectancy at age 65, the beneficiary could expect to continue to receive benefits for another 12 to 14 years beyond the point where all contributions had been recovered. That is why it would be more appropriate to compare social security to a pipeline, with the taxes collected from workers flowing into one end, and flowing out the other end in the form of social security checks for current beneficiaries. This method of financing, usually called “pay-as-you-go” is the way the program has historically Yesterday’s been workers’ financed. supported see SOCIAL SECURITY on page10 iB; ¢ Bg <—e tay true to your loves, author Ray Bradbury told Weber State students during a March visit to the campus. Stay true to them, and they will stay true to you, he said. Bradbury came to the college as part of the National Undergraduate Literature Conference sponsored by the Weber State English department, and told students his success as a writer came because he never lost his affection and interest in things he thought were important. “T have always been in love with the future,” the science fiction author told the capacity audience in the Austad Auditorium in the Browning Center. At the age of three Bradbury fell in love with movies and went to every one possible. Next came a love of dinosaurs when he was five. “T fell madly in love with Buck Rogers comic strips. This was October of 1929, and I was nine years old. I began to collect those daily strips because I believed so much in the future. My friends at school made fun of me, and after about two months I listened to them and tore up the F