Weber State College Comment, April 1988, Page 10 Centennial A Weber State College Centennial calendar, featuring events and photos from the college’s past, was recently published and is available to alumni through the WSC Bookstore. The calendar includes from January 1988 to June 1989 and was compiled by the history department and the department of news and public information. Each month is illustrated with a photo from the college’s 100 year past. Most of the calendar days note historic events as well. The calendars sell for $2.95, and the ——— Bookstore will mail the calendars for that same price. . The calendars are available at selected book stores and greeting card outlets in the Ogden area or at the Weber State bookstore. To purchase the calendar by mail send name and address plus $2.95 to Weber State College Bookstore, Ogden, UT 84408-2103. Thecalendars will be mailed within a week after the request is received. Sunday Social Comment Centennial calendars security: Good First basketball team at Weber Stake Acade: my (1905), Standing| to R: George Doxey. Stephan Bradford, Willlam McKay. Kneetin g: John Watson, Arthur Budge. Lying on floor: John Beinap, Grant Brown). February 1989 Monday ~"= Tuesday Wednesday Thursday | ‘Saturday RAE, NOE ee| a Friday ee awe 1931 sennaosincon 70 « 1913 sxwee F9DT Some ee news and looking for articles The Comment is looking for stories, be returned to their owners. Poetry about poetry and photos from alumni, faculty the college, or anything relating to the and staff on their days at Weber State for college's 100 year history would also be a special centennial issue of The Comment appropriate for the centennial issue, Noel that will be published in January of 1989. said. Weber State celebrates its 100th birth“Each of us ought to look over our day on Jan. 7, 1989 and as part of the individual areas and decide on one confestivities this publication will produce a tribution we can make to the centennial,” special issue reflecting the college’s past; WSC President Stephen D. Nadauld that looks at the milestones and stumbling recently challenged faculty and staff, and blocks and at the people who breathed The Comment would like to extend that life and mission into the institution. challenge to former students. “We hope to hear from as many Submissions should be mailed to: people as possible,” said Howard Noel, The The Comment Comment’s executive Craig Nelson/Editor editor. “We may not be Weber State College able to publish every f4A____,_ Ogden, UT item submitted, but f ‘a 84408-1010 100 YEARS we will do our best to ge as much in as possible.” “The Weber State Centennial offers Articles can be any length, and cover a rare opportunity for us to celebrate any aspect of the college’s history. Black the birth and growth of an institution and white photos of campus life and that has played a significant part in buildings can also be submitted and will many of our lives,” Noel said. bad —continued from page3 ee ee eee ee ee ee ee ee ee es ee: cs SOCIAL SECURITY? ee They forget, or are unaware, that disability and survivors benefits are also important parts of the total package. In fact, about 40 percent of all social security birth is recorded at the hospital. And one by taking a part-time job that pays her more service improvement is a new an annual salary of $12,400. Without the computer system we are designing that retirement test that would give her a total will send anyone who asks for it a copy annual income of $18,400. But under of their complete earnings history as current law, because her salary exceeds recorded in our records. - The new pro$8,400, one-half of the amount that cedure also will provide an estimate of exceeds that limit, or $2,000, would be their future social security retirement taken away by reducing her social security benefit, as well as disability and survivors checks, Icaving her with a total yearly estimates. income of only $16,400. Before I close I’d like to talk about In other words, because she’s industrisomething which I feel very strongly ous and decides to work, she’s penalized. thirds of those over 65 rely on social about. I firmly believe that as people reach This just doesn’t seem fair to me. security for more than 50 percent of their their retirement years they should be able A recently released report on our future income, that about one-fourth of the to work if they so choose without fear ” work force, titled “Work Force 2000,” elderly count on social security to provide , of any penalty. That is why I believe points out that the work force will grow more than 90 percent of their income, and, ' we should eliminate the so-called retiremore slowly than at any time since the regrettably, fully 15 percent of those over ment test. I’m referring to that provision 1930s. By the year 2000 the number of 65 rely on their social security check as of the law that limits the amount of money young workers age 16-24 will drop by their only income. social security beneficiaries age 65-69 can eight percent, almost two million. BeThat is why we must encourage those earn and still receive full benefits. 3 cause of that shortage of young workers who still have time to plan ahead to rely The way the system works now, people the last thing I believe we need is any more on private planning for retirement in those age brackets who work and earn kind of disincentive that keeps older income. Social security must be a part, more than $8,400 in 1988 have their social people out of the work place. and preferably a small part, of our total security benefits reduced. In effect, the For these and other reasons I think our pension picture. By this I do not mean retirement test equals a 50 percent marplan to eliminate the retirement test is to disregard future social security beneginal tax rate because for every two dollars critical. Under our proposal, which fits. Instead social security should serve a person earns over that $8,400 limit, one requires congressional approval, people as a base upon which to build a complete dollar is withheld from his or her benefits. over 65 will have the freedom to work financial package. Ideally, it must be Take an example of a 66 year old widow and earn as much as they want, and to supplemented with pensions, savings, and who receives $500 per month, or $6,000 remain in the labor force as long as they other investments. Perhaps we should per year, in social security benefits, and want, without having to worry about their start thinking of social security as the who decides to supplement her income social security checks being reduced. supplement to these other savings plans. But I want to stress that planning for retirement is an individual responsibility, not a government responsibility. Each person should make plans for the future MANY to the best of his or her ability. PEOPLE There are all sorts of gimmicks, ONLY KNOW schemes and scams perpetrated on the _. PALE American public that bilk them out of THE STORY. money for services that social security offers free of charge, and in the past yearGet the whole story from and-a-half we have taken many steps to the free booklet, ‘‘Social improve our service while increasing Security, -How it works productivity and efficiency. Se 55) 8) For example, we are working to implement a nationwide toll-free telephone sats ery Security, service that people anywhere in the Pueblo, Colorado 81009. country can call at any time to ask a question or resolve a problem. We are This and other social security ads are designed to promote public awareness. "I testing a program that offers new parents would really encourage people whoare thinking about retirement to write usand the opportunity to obtain a social security we can given them a statement of expectations," said Dorcus Hardy, commisnumber for their child as soonas the baby’s sioner of social security. ee gram. benefits, or almost $85 billion this year alone, will go to non-retirees. But social security should not be the only retirement option. People cannot, and should not, count on social security to do it all. It was never intended to be a retiree’s only source of income. But in asense, social security has been a victim of its own success. That success has led to an exaggeration of its capabilities, and an over-reliance on the program. For example, we know that almost two- [Pe yesterday’s retirees, and today’s workers are supporting today’s retirees. However, because of the large reserves the program is building to prepare for the baby-boom retirees, we no longer strictly operate on a current-cost basis. In other words, that pipeline now has a rather large reservoir connected to it that holds the reserve funds. In effect, today’s workers are paying for today’s retirees, and are also helping to finance their own retirement. But we may be reaching the point where tax payers’ ability to pay may not match the willingness to pay. At the beginning of this decade, the social security tax rate was 6.13 percent of the first $25,900 in earnings, and the maximum tax paid by wage earners in 1980 was $1,587. But the tax rate for employers and employees, each, went up this year to 7.51 percent. In 1990 it will go up again to 7.65 percent. The earnings base, the maximum amount of earnings on which social security taxes are paid, also went up this year. It was $43,800 last year, but is now $45,000. That means thata person with maximum social security covered wages will pay $3,379 in 1988 — more than twice as much as the maximum rate paid just eight years ago. And I am mindful of the more direct extra tax burden borne by the selfemployed. Their 1988 tax rate is 13.02 percent, and it goes up to 15.3 percent in 1990. A self-employed person can pay as much as $5,859 in social security taxes in 1988. You may find it interesting to note that someone working for wages and paying the maximum tax this year will pay as much in social security taxes this one year alone as a worker who paid the maximum social security tax during the first 33 years of the program. That is why we must be very sensitive to the concerns of young people now paying into the program. That is also one reason why people must understand what their social security tax dollars are paying for. Many think of social security only as a retirement pro-