John,

The Koch brothers and their allies are starting to turn the gears, yet again, on privatizing Social Security. And, once again, we must tell them loud and clear: Hands off our earned benefits!!

Social Security is among the most successful programs in American history. Without it, millions of seniors would be living in poverty.

In their latest ploy to destroy Social Security, the Koch brothers-backed FreedomWorks and their ally Stephen Moore―the man behind Trump’s $2 trillion tax giveaway to billionaires and corporations―are calling for the privatization of Social Security.

This is a bad idea that we defeated back in the Bush era. But bad ideas don’t seem to stay dead at conservative think tanks. Providing Wall Street billionaires with a massive tax giveaway wasn’t enough for Moore―he wants to give them your earned Social Security benefits, as well. We’re going to stop this zombie idea before it crawls out of its grave.

ADD YOUR NAME: We need to EXPAND, not privatize, Social Security!

Moore recently wrote an oped in the Wall Street Journal calling for the creation of “Private Social Security Accounts.” In his op-ed, Moore himself writes, “To be sure, the stock market is risky and highly volatile in the short term, as tens of millions of Americans discovered painfully during the Great Recession.”  

That is exactly why privatizing Social Security would be a disaster. Why on Earth would we want to turn our earned benefits over to Wall Street bankers who have shown time and time again that they are guided by greed?

Private accounts break the fundamental promise of Social Security: It is an earned benefit that we can all count on, not something we each hoard for ourselves. And switching to a private system robs current retirees and soon-to-be retirees by removing the FICA contributions that fund the system now. Privatized Social Security is just a bad idea―that’s why we beat it in 2005, and we’ll beat it again.

Add your name: Demand Congress expand―never cut or privatize―Social Security’s essential benefits.

As of today, Social Security has a $2.9 trillion surplus. It can pay out all benefits owed through 2035 and 80% of benefits owed after that. There are a dozen plans in the House to expand benefits, including the Social Security 2100 Act, which has 211 co-sponsors―and counting. Once passed, it would be the most significant update to Social Security since 1983―increasing benefits for millions of Americans and strengthening the Social Security Trust Fund for decades to come.

We’re building a national coalition to pass legislation that protects and expands Social Security. And when Social Security is threatened by Koch Brothers stooges like Stephen Moore, we’re going to rise up to defend it.

Stand with us today and tell Congress to expand, never cut, Social Security’s earned benefits!!

At a time of increasing income and wealth inequality, disappearing pensions and unstable 401(k)s, Social Security is more important than ever for retirees, children, surviving spouses, veterans and people with disabilities. Stand with us as we fight against all efforts to destroy Social Security.

Thank you for your support,

Michael Phelan
Social Security Works