Security

Robert Reich's op-ed ("Obama should not compromise on Social Security and Medicare" April 3) prompts me to write. Mr. Reich's prescription for these programs isn't completely off the mark. But there is a much more comprehensive solution to each. Social Security: eliminate the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes. Then lower the rate dramatically. There is no rationale for having any cap on earned income subject to taxes in the first place. This change would dramatically increase revenue into the system without changing benefit formulas.

I think the NRA should put its money where its mouth is ("Gun advocates detail plan to arm teachers," April 3). They should fund the placement of guns in schools and the training of personnel to use those guns. One vehicle for funding could be taxing ammunition. One cent per round does not sound like too much to ask to protect our children. Such a tax requires no license, no identification of purchaser beyond current requirements, no infringement on the right to bear arms. Ellen Rosenthal, Baltimore Text NEWS to 70701 to get Baltimore Sun local news text alerts

When economic times are tough and the daily headlines remind us of our nation's deficit challenge, it's easy to use misinformation and anecdotes of abuse to demonize certain entitlement programs. Unfortunately, this has the unintended effect of stereotyping whole groups of people as lazy, unmotivated or, worse yet, committing intentional fraud. First, it was those living on the edge of poverty and relying on Medicaid for health care and other critical support services who took the hit. Now it's the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)

Active-duty military personnel using BWI Marshall Airport are eligible to participate in Pre-Check, an expedited security screening, the Transportation Security Administration announced Wednesday. TSA officers staffing the Pre-Check station at Concourse D will scan a service member's Common Access Card to determine if they qualify; service members do not have to be in uniform to be considered. Eligible passengers may be directed to a lane that will allow them to leave their shoes, light outerwear and belt on, keep their laptop in its case and their liquids and gels bag in a carry-on.

While Congress tosses all kinds of scenarios around about the future of retirement benefits like Medicare or Social Security - while doing absolutely nothing about it - we shouldn't be terribly surprised that real people are feeling as insecure about their post-employment years as ever. The latest survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute found that despite last year's stock market gains, workers are less confident this year than last that they'll have enough money for a comfortable retirement.

Abe Bortz, the Social Security Administration's first historian and a voracious book collector and reviewer, died Tuesday of lymphoma at his home in Pikesville. He was 93. Dr. Bortz grew up in Cincinnati, graduating from high school there in 1937 and earning a bachelor's degree in history from the University of Cincinnati in 1941. He was drafted into the Army the next year and served first as a lieutenant and then as a captain in the military-supply Quartermaster Corps. He saw Buchenwald, one of the German concentration camps, soon after the Army liberated it in 1945.

Daniel David Holtzman, a retired Social Security analyst and World War II veteran, died of a heart attack March 8 at Sinai Hospital. The Owings Mills resident was 92. Born in Baltimore, he was the son of Jacob Holtzman, a maker of straw and felt hats, and Matilda Holtzman, a homemaker. He grew up in West Baltimore on Bentalou Street and played at Easterwood Park. Family members said he played softball, baseball, basketball, tennis, and ran track and swam. In later life, he attended reunions of friends from Easterwood Park.

The economy is improving and so is employment, but workers' optimism about a comfortable retirement has fallen to a new low, according to the annual Retirement Confidence Survey released Tuesday. Just over half of workers say they are either very confident about their retirement prospects or somewhat so. But 28 percent - a record high - have no confidence while an additional 21 percent express pessimism about their retirement future. The survey by the Employment Benefit Research Institute gauged the outlook on retirement among 1,254 U.S. workers and retirees interviewed in January.

As someone who has made a career advocating on behalf of those that depend on Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income benefits, I was disheartened to read Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s column, "Disability insurance entitlement explodes under Obama" (March 3). The percentage increase in people on Social Security disability in recent years was expected, due to the aging Baby Boomers, half of whom are now reaching "high disability years. " Additionally, there has been an increase of women in the workforce in recent decades, women who are now eligible to draw on their own earnings record when they become disabled.

Act first and ask questions later is not always a great management strategy, but in the case of Anne Arundel County Executive Laura Neuman's response to a mysterious network of surveillance cameras in and around government buildings, it's hard to consider it rash. Ms. Neuman has now been on the job for a little over a week, after being named by the County Council to replace former executive John Leopold, and given the circumstances of his departure, Ms. Neuman can't act fast enough to convince county workers and residents that a new leader has taken charge at the Arundel Center.