(MintPress) – Eighty-two percent of Americans support preserving Social Security, according to a recent survey released by the National Academy of Social Insurance. The findings confirm a growing class stratification in the U.S., exacerbated by the continued assault on essential social programs that help millions of working families stay above the poverty line.
The Wall Street elite, the recipients of billions in taxpayer-funded bailouts in 2008, continue to press for cuts to these programs. Despite the best-laid lobbying efforts of Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and others, Americans remain largely supportive of Social Security, a program created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression.
The results of the survey could not be more clear. Eighty-two percent of respondents believe that it is critical to preserve Social Security for future generations even if it means increasing Social Security taxes paid by working Americans, and 87 percent want to preserve Social Security for future generations even if it means increasing taxes paid by wealthier Americans.
Additionally, the survey found that 84 percent believe current Social Security benefits do not provide enough income for retirees, while 89 percent said Social Security benefits are “more important than ever.” Seventy-five percent of respondents said that the U.S. should even consider raising benefits.
Despite robust public support for Social Security, this has not slowed corporate attacks against public programs, especially during recent fiscal cliff discussion on Capitol Hill.
In December, a coalition of 14 Wall Street CEOs traveled to Washington, D.C. trying to convince President Obama to raise taxes on the middle class while cutting funding for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Blankfein received $16.1 million in 2011 and helped contribute to the runaway speculative investment practices that wiped out more than $11 billion in personal wealth during the 2008 crisis.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), one of the few members of Congress defending Social Security spoke out against recent Wall Street lobbying, saying, “I find it literally beyond comprehension that we have folks from Wall Street who received huge bailouts from the people of our country, from working families in our country because of the greed and the recklessness and illegal behavior which Wall Street did to drive us into this recession and now these very same people are coming here to Congress to lecture us and the American people about how we have to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
Some Republicans have proposed reducing funding to these programs, or privatizing them as a means to cut the federal deficit, currently a staggering $16 trillion. Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan proposed a voucher system during the 2012 Presidential race, a popular alternative among conservatives to Medicare and Medicare.
Under such a proposal, the federal government would provide “premium support” payments to future beneficiaries to purchase health insurance.