Those official notices you receive periodically from the Social Security Administration, telling you how much you can expect to receive per month if you retire at certain ages, aren't even a promise. You are guaranteed nothing - nothing - in Social Security retirement benefits.

As matters stand, many Americans will not receive the benefit amounts stated in those official notices, unless drastic changes are made in the Social Security program.

Many Americans are not aware of the fiscal catastrophe looming in the Social Security program. They see only that the program now is taking in more money than it pays out and that it seems to have enormous reserves. What they do not understand is that most of the actual cash behind those reserves has been spent by the government for purposes other than Social Security. At some point, hundreds of billions of dollars will have to be found to make up for that “borrowing.”

A federal agency, the Accounting Standards Advisory Board, wants to change the system used to account for Social Security programs. Board members believe a change will reflect more accurately the long-range outlook for Social Security. Needless to say, many politicians, both Republican and Democrat, don't want to make the change. They don't want Americans to understand the magnitude of challenges facing the Social Security program.

Americans deserve to know just how deep a hole the politicians - again, of both parties - have dug concerning Social Security. If it takes an accounting method change to do that, then it ought to be made.

The Leader-Herald, Gloversville, N.Y.

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