I, too, don’t believe that there is anything to worry about regarding Social Security at present and for the near future. The article that I read in your paper was informative and I enjoyed being enlightened.

Several months ago, I wrote President Bush and said that he shouldn’t cut benefits or increase the retirement age. He should raise the cap to $150,000 and increase the tax by two percent. Poor naive me, I thought everyone paid into Social Security and indeed everyone should. I know my elderly neighbor paid into his railroad pension plus Social Security. Government workers should definitely pay into Social Security and that includes congressmen. And the pensions they and their wives receive should be cut considerably. Let’s see them live on Social Security and Medicare. I guarantee benefits would go up, but, no, there are different rules for the more affluent and they don’t apply to us.

My father’s generation has lived into their eighties and have collected much more than they ever paid in. Now it is time for us “baby boomers” to reap the benefits and they are talking of cutting them and raising the retirement age. We earned every penny we should get. Also, the government needs to pay back the funds they borrowed from Social Security.

Another pet peeve I have is that a person has to wait until 65 to qualify for Medicare. If a person retires at 62, then they should be able to qualify for Medicare at 62. This is a deterrent to keep people working.

The middle class has been milked dry and the President’s energy bill had a lot of pork attached to it. Congress spends our money so freely. If anything, the federal income tax should be decreased as well as the state income tax. If Congress doesn’t have the money then they can’t spend it.

Personally, I’m fed up with the way our representatives spend our money, but there isn’t anything we can do about it because the income tax for federal and state is mandatory. How can we protest? It’s against the law for our employers to not take out income tax. Congress has us over a barrel.

Oh, and while I’m writing, I happen to be a smoker and I was very upset that the legislature increased the cigarette tax. They should have also increased the tax on cigars, pipe tobacco and chewing tobacco. And if they want to know what it’s like to be addicted to cigarettes then I challenge them all to go without coffee for one month. Caffeine is a drug just like nicotine. In fact, let’s increase the coffee tax by $10 per can or bag. That would really bring in revenue. Come on Mr. Gary Moore. Let’s see you spearhead this issue.

Alicia Merrifield

Standish