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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (May 13, 1981)
ational THE BATTALION WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 1981 Page 11 aving Social Security would penalize early retirees ^publican c Sen, Jad ien s- Job n Republj. ict. Mengda, V I m United Press International Hi IwASHINGTON — The R f ((ran administration Tuesday ■oposed to save Social Security bytheredB penalizing people who retire Bfore age 65, rewarding those l,an woi B, 0 W ork longer and giving every- n g r essmetl e a tax cut beginning in 1985. senatorial if But although they painted the nat °rs into Bogram as painless, except for ]p S e wanting early retirement, Bcials conceded under question- that future beneficiaries would Jer some slight cuts through an ljustment in the formula used to Impute benefit checks. a -. u J “We do have a plan to keep but wouic |f>rial Security in the black. We ■ have a plan that keeps the re- - 1 nr-* age at 65 but most impor- of all, this plan does not re- llove from the plan or cut benefits 1*1/ for anyone presently getting So- X X Jcial Security,” said Health and • Human Services Secretary Richard Schweiker. Schweiker, who briefed eon- ij Sessional leaders before making the plan public, emphasized the ccurred i only effect on today’s 31 million raids seefiKtirees would be a three-month man Grepldelay in payment of the cost-of- said eaclliving increase. idtoopentf For future retirees, the admi- 1 the an* nistration proposes a change in the formula used to compute benefits that will result in a check that is a total of 3 percent smaller by Jan. 1, 1987. For the average 65-year-old retiring on Jan. 1, 1987, that will mean a check of $691.90 a month instead of the $719 he would get under the present law. The plan makes strong use of incentives — both to encourage people to stay on the job past age 65 and to penalize financially the two-thirds of workers that now opt for early retirement beginning at age 62. Early retirees now get 80 per cent of the benefits they are eligi ble to receive at age 65. The Reagan plan would give them 55 percent and save $17 billion by 1986, sources said. That means the average Social Security beneficiary who now re tires early and receives $372.80 a month would get $246.80 begin ning Jan. 1, 1982, when the mea sure would take effect, the gov ernment said. By January 1987, the average worker retiring early would get only $348.30 a month, compared with the $580.70 he could expect under the present law. The plan also encourages work ers to remain on the job past 65 by phasing out over five years an earnings limitation that now takes $1 of every $2 in benefits a reci pient earns over $5,500. Schweiker called the limitation “a penalty now in law which dis courages senior citizens from re maining in the labor force.” The proposed tax cut would ease Social Security payments for workers beginning in 1985, cut ting that year’s payments to 6.45 percent of the flrst $29,700 earned — lower than the current tax of 6.65 percent. Under legislation passed by Congress in 1978, pay ments are scheduled to rise to 7.05 percent in 1985 and 7.65 percent in 1990. The proposed tax cut would ease Social Security payments for workers beginning in 1985. The administration proposed two op tions, and officials said they would ask Congress for authority to choose one based on the condition of the Social Security trust fund at the time. Under the administration’s ex pected economic assumptions, payments would be cut to 6.45 percent of the first $29,700 earned by a worker — lower than the cur rent tax of 6.65 percent. Under legislation passed by Congress in 1978, payments are scheduled to rise to 7.05 percent in 1985 and 7.65 percent in 1990. But under what it termed “worst case” economic assump tions, the administration’s plan would offer a 6.95 percent rate in 1985, a 7.05 percent rate from 1986-1989 and a 6.45 percent rate beginning in 1990. The plan would also strip from Social Security some provisions Schweiker described as “welfare- oriented.” About 36 million people now receive Social Security checks tot aling about $140 billion annually. Some 31 million are retired, with the rest receiving disability, sup plemental benefits or kidney dis ease treatment from the program. “Some of these changes will be difficult. But as things now stand, without changes, the Social Secur ity trust fund deficit could climb as high as $111 billion in the next five years,” said Schweiker, who added the system would go broke next year otherwise. “The crisis is inescapable. It is here. It is now.” The administration has pro jected a deficit of about $40 billion VALERIE MARTIN’S GALLERY OF DANCE ARTS OFFERING ADULT DAY-TIME CLASSES for the SUMMER! If interested, please call Valerie for information at 693-0352. in the retirement trust fund by Administration budget figures re- 1986, much less than the $63 bil- leased with the program antici- lion short fall estimated by the pate a minimum savings of $46.4 Congressional Budget Office. billion by then. AGGIES! Douglas Jew3ry 10% AGGIE DISCOUNT ON ALL MERCHANDISE WITH STUDENT ID (Cash Only Please) We reserve the right to limit use of this privilege. Downtown Bryan (212 N. Main) and Culpepper Plaza James" ccalsoldl mond F( ncident. led pinkhole engulfs uildings, cars, keeps growing Two ;ess; ted ‘ and Bil!;.. murder )dy was foe wdaysearlf : iort,theai , . . 1 R United Press International f V flNTER PARK, Fla. I1U ’ 0rllC „% re eommcrcial buildings crum- ■V ev 7jd“by bits and pieces” Tuesday ie . . »> a yawning sinkhole that is nigilsnu Ujng a Winter Park neighbor- nod into an expensive dump pit. ■Fire officials in the central Flor- ■ city said the chasm continued n IT /ifc naw at eart h beneath a laundry d lit Idling a nd an adjacent printing ip, and there was little hope business would be spared. By late Monday, about 15 feet the rear of the laundry was ging over the rim of the cavity, jile Color Press Inc. collapsed jtings an “bybitsand pieces,” said Assistant vonjans it pn> Chief Michael Molthop. mown inial I n addition, the German Car id her fs fervice, which has already lost a the pres^. quarter of its property — includ- tgfive Porsche cars — to the pit, en only was expected to lose the remain- resultingbder of its building. , one in Es| Authorities, who erected a istralia. ]( 4,000-foot-long, chain-link fence ifth test! to keep curious onlookers and verbeem opportunistic vendors selling hot 3ans theepdogs, lemonade and “Winter Park dish and t Sinkhole” T-shirts back from the iman. edge of the absyss, said there is nic had k little they can do beyond that. Ily for mei “We’re just sitting back letting ve a testt Mother Nature do her thing,” said credited ' Fire Capt. Gus LaGarde. atientsinftl They have nixed attempts to i injections wage the cars and other items natural 1 from the pit because of the ireakthroucjdanger. ,. W I I decided to prevent any sal- ey.du-ecjjge operation for now ” said H ^""“teistant City- Manager John Lin- e , n v . ; Jf n - Even the weight of one man h ' , mid sc, it off again." |] ™“T Real estate agent Bob Govern, 111 ""mi i I )Wner °fone of the Porsches lying P*L was l ess thtin pleased ' vished about the fate of his car. J “ Tf :an of the' 1 ; n w; l ier .-.I I took the thing in to have the li — transmission repaired, not bury it, ” he said. But he added, “I’d just as soon see the car stay in the hole if insurance covers it. Twenty- thousand, forty-thousand dollars — whatever the car is worth — it’s not worth getting somebody maimed.” A truck dealership moved its trucks off a lot near the edge of the hole and five homes were evacu ated as a precautionary measure, although authorities said none were in immediate danger. The sinkhole began opening Friday on the fringes of a commer cial and low-income residential area in western Winter Park. By the end of the weekend it had de voured a three-bedroom frame house, the five sports cars and a camper from the auto agency, most of a municipal swimming pool, parts of three streets and several trees. City officials said damage esti mates were “in the millions of dol lars” and geologists observing the phenomenon said it could still widen another 100 feet. On Monday, engineers from the Florida Department of Trans portation, using surveying equip ment, calculated the hole mea sures 333 feet east to west and 300 feet north to south — slightly lar ger than a soccer field. The center, which has begun to fill with water, is about 46 feet deep to the water line. “It would cost well over $1 mil lion to fill the sinkhole,” said Lin ton, who met with city council- men Monday afternoon. “If we leave it as it is, it will eventually fill up on its own (with water.) 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