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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 1994)
Ss“=- News Digest Tuesday, September 27, 1994 Page 2 Social security system holds no security for Generation X WASHINGTON — Young Americans find it easier to believe in UFOs than the likelihood Social Security will be around when they retire, says a group that surveyed the nation’s “Generation X.” The survey, released Monday, tellsa“chillingtale ofyoung people convinced that the social contract between the generations has been dissolved,’’ said the sponsoring group, Third Millennium. The name refers to the period following the year 2000, when people in the age group sometimes called Generation X will be mov ing into positions of authority. According to the poll, just over one-fourth of people between the ages of 18 and 34 believe Social Security will still exist when they retire, compared with 46 percent who think there are UFOs. Only 9 percent of the young people think Social Security will have the money to pay their retire ment benefits. “Despite their faith in UFOs, young people know that the solu tion to the Social Security funding crisis will not fall from the sky,” said Richard Thau, Third Millen nium executive director. A new draft report by the Con gressional Budget Office concludes that “no easy fixes to the funding “Despite their faith in UFOs, young people know that the solution to the Social Security funding crisis will not fall from the sky. ” ■ RICHARD THAU Third Millennium director. problems of the Social Security system exist.” This year, CBO estimates that Social Security will collect about $58 billion more than it will pay in benefits. During the retirement years of the baby boomers, the generation of people born between 1946 and 1964, annual benefits will exceed receipts and the trust funds will be exhausted by 2029. The congressional budget ex perts conclude that improving the investment returns of Social Security's trust funds or investing to improve overall economic growth will not solve the funding problem. Third Millennium said Social Security is“hurtling toward its next financial crisis." Serious, structural reform is desperately needed, it said, but the political will to make the difficult decisions has not existed. “And as public confidence in the retirement system deteriorates, intergenerational conflict becomes an increasingly likely feature of the American public landscape,” it said. Third Millennium said that while Generation Xers have been labeled selfish and self-centered by the media, its survey demonstrates it is the elderly who care most about themselves. Its poll found that one-third of senior citizens think they are get ting less than they deserve from Social Security. Just over half of the youth sur veyed supported paying benefits based on need and making benefits 100 percent taxable for wealthy recipients. The poll was conducted in early September and had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent age points. Surveyed were 500 Generation Xers and 500 senior citizens. “I am committed to rebuilding confidence in the program,” Social Security Commissioner Shirley Chater said. Plague spreads throughout India SURAT, India—Authorities listed no plague deaths in this industrial city Monday for the first time in six days, but they reported a disturbing devel opment: an outbreak of plague in a neighboring state. Soldiers searched shantytowns for more plague victims and guarded Surat's main hospital to stop infec tious patients from fleeing. Officials said 56 new plague cases were re corded in the city. Since pneumonic plague was first reported in Surat last Tuesday, at least 51 people have died, more than 450 have been hospitalized and an esti mated 400,000 have fled the city. Unofficial death tolls run as high as 300. South of Surat, officials in Maharashtra state reported 31 cases of bubonic plague, a less deadly fonn of the disease that ravaged 14th cen tury Europe and Asia as “the Black Death.” In Surat, a port in western Gujarat state, soldiers in blue-gray fatigues accompanied doctors intoslums where most plague cases were reported. The troops helped search for plague suf ferers being kept home by their fami lies and watched for looting of medi cine being distributed by health offi cials. The plague is spread by fleas that have bitten infected animals and by bacteria ejected into the air by the coughing of infected people. Soldiers with automatic weapons stood guard at the Civil Hospital to keep patients from leaving before being cured by antibiotics. At least 60 people fled before the federal govern ment sent in 800 soldiers Sunday. Doctors described the fugitive pa tients as “time bombs” who could quickly spread the disease from one mud hut to another in the many shantytowns on the banks of the filthy Tapi River. With nearly one-fifth of the popu lation having fled the city, Indian of ficials fear the plague may be spread to other regions. Although plague can be cured with antibiotics, the 600 million people Plague threatens India At least 51 people have died since pneumonic plague was first reported in Surat on Tuesday. Hundreds have been hospitalized and an estimated 400,000 people have fled the city. The plague was also reported in the state of Maharashtra in the area devastated by an earthquake a year ago. The pneumonic plague is a strain of the bubonic plague who live in rural India often have little access to doctors or medicine, and many die of curable diseases. Officials declared Surat a disaster zone and rushed in millions of cap sules of antibiotics. “No deaths in 24 hours, that is since 5 p.m. on Sunday until 5 p.m. today,” said Kundan Lai, a city ad ministrator. Lai also told The Associated Press that two patients from neighboring AP villages died at the hospital Sunday. They were the first plague victims from outside the city. India’s first plague outbreak in 30 years is raising concern around the world. U.S. officials are monitoring airports to watch for passengers arri v ing with plague. In Canada, airline crews refused to unload an Air India flight Saturday. Indians arriving on flights in Hong Kong also are being monitored. Sanctions against Haiti lifted after three years UNITED NATIONS — Citing “a moment of opportunity” for democ racy, President Clinton lifted travel, trade and most other O S. sanctions against Haiti on Monday and urged other nations to follow !suit. Clinton told the U.N. General As sembly that lifting the sanctions would hasten rebuildingofthe impoverished country and was being done “in the spirit of reconciliation and reconstruc tion.” He suggested the sanctions were no longer needed, with American and other forces firmly in place in the Caribbean country to enforce the U.S. brokered agreement to restore exiled president Jean-Bertrand Aristide to power by Oct. 15. Clinton said some sanctions would remain in force, including a freezing of bank accounts and other assets against Haiti’s military leaders and their supporters. The U.S. government has a li$t of 600 people with ties to Haiti’s mili tary junta who will remain under the sanctions, officials said. Madeleine Albright, the U.S. am bassador to the United Nations, later told reporters that leaving the sanc tions in place on the military leaders and their associates was designed to turn up the heat on them to leave the country by Oct. 15. She said the United States would seek a quick vote on lifting refraining U N. trade sanctions on Haiti, even though it may contain a ‘'trigger” that they would not be fully removed until Aristide was back in power. The United States is encouraging exiled Haitian parliamentarians to re turn for a key session Wednesday in Port-au-Prince to consider amnesty legislation. U.S. forces will provide security for the legislators once the session is convened. Clinton said the operation demon strated that “progress can be made when a coalition backs up diplomacy with military power.” At the Pentagon, Defense Secre tary William Perry cautioned that while U.S. troops were being greeted “as friends and not in vaders’rin Haiti, it was critical that humanitarian aid began flowing. Perry said that U.S. forces have been told to defend themselves and that the Marines involved in the shoot out had acted within the military’s rules of engagement. A U.N. trade embargo on Haiti remained in force. It seemed unlikely it would continue to be enforced given Clinton’s appeal. Simpson sings soltly before facing jurors LOS ANGELES — O.J. Simpson quietly sang, “A new day has begun ...” before facing some of his poten tial jurors Monday as the most watched murder trial in U.S. history got under way. Jury candidates were identified only by numbers, and the first to be questioned was No. 0032. Simpson wore No. 32 as a college and profes sional football star. “I don’t know if this is an omen,” said Superior Court Judge Lance Ito. After questioning potential jurors about whether serving would be a hardship, Ito excused 112 of the first 219 called. The judge divided those remain ing into groups who said they defi nitely could serve and those who said they might be able to, then asked them one-by-one to explain their positions. Sixty-five had said they definitely could serve. Of those called, 212 reported Mon day and had to pass a phalanx of news crews, demonstrators and entrepre neurs outside the courthouse hawk ing everything from T-shirts and caps to buttons reading “O.J. Juror Reject, Didn’t Make the Cut.” Inside, they gathered in a large 1 Ith-floor jury assembly room, and Ito introduced the principal players in the case, including Simpson. The former football star then stood up and said, “Good afternoon.” He is charged with the slaying deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman on June 12. Simpson sat at a table, hands in his lap, and tried to make eye contact with the jury candidates, but few looked at him. Just before they were brought in. he hummed and sang quietly. A pool reporter could make out the words, “A new day has begun... “ but didn't know the name of the song. “This is probably the most impor tant decision you’ll make in your per sonal life,’’ Ito told the group. “It’s the most important decision of any Ameri can citizen. I need a fair jury ” Among those excused were at least one person who was physically dis abled and some whose employers would pay for only 10 days of jury service. The trial could last up to six months and some jurors apparently were scared off by the prospect they might have to be sequestered. Those who made the first cut, in cluding juror No. 0032, a redheaded woman in her 30s, were told to fill out a 75-page questionnaire probing their personal lives as well as their attitudes toward the Simpson case. He warned them that reporters may be reviewing the answers, and that anyone who wanted to keep their in formation confidential should make a note for the judge. “I don’t think you should have to sacrifice the sanctity of your personal life for this case,’’ he said. Nebraskan T* .I i , _ FAX NUMBER 472-1761 The Daily Nebraskan (US PS 144 080) is published by the UNL Publications Board. Ne braska Union 34, 1400 R St., Lincoln, NE 68588-0448, Monday through Friday during the academic year; weekly dunng summer sessions Ifcaders are encouraged lo submit story ideas and comments lo the Daily Nebraskan by phoning 472-1763 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The public also has accessto the Publications Board. For information, contacl Tim Hedegaard, 436 9258. Subscription price is $50 for one year Ql f£2L^28ich*ng*# ,0 ,h« Nebraskan, Nebraska Union 34.1400 R St..Lincoln, NE **5**-044£8econd class Dostaoe paid at Lincoln, NE. ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1994 DAILY NEBRASKAN