Michael Shea
Nashville, Tenn.

Worth welcomes your comments, critiques and suggestions. Please direct your letters to letters@worth.com.

Dear Editor:
Henry Aaron uses his article, “The Transition Problem,” simply as a vehicle to criticize President Bush while ignoring the real problem. Social Security is organized in the same fashion as a Ponzi scheme and would be illegal if not run by the government. The real problem is that it was designed by politicians to make political points, not financial sense, and now it is projected to face massive shortfalls despite several tax increases and a reduction in the formula for benefits.

Since Mr. Aaron fails to address the real problem, I am left wondering just what his view is. He states the deficit is “modest in size,” but if not addressed would require “large, abrupt changes later.” He leaves it unclear why a modest problem would require large change. Does he believe there is no real problem? Perhaps he is one of those who believed earlier official forecasts of federal budget “surpluses for decades.” Or would he rather just ignore it as long as possible? Congress has shown that it can spend any amount given to it and additionally create enormous deficits.

In Mr. Aaron’s criticism of tax cuts, what makes him think that if Congress were given more revenue now, the money would be available many years from now to fund anyone’s retirement?

Without change, there will be a massive shortfall and reduction in Social Security benefits. Transition is not a problem; it is an opportunity. We can either choose to correct a flawed system or wait and deal with the problem when it becomes a crisis. When will Mr. Aaron wake up and stop defending the status quo? He was wrong concerning welfare reform in the 1990s and he is wrong about Social Security reform now.

Wayne Grabow
Colorado Springs, Colo.

Worth welcomes your comments, critiques and suggestions. Please direct your letters to letters@worth.com.

Metallic Reasoning

Dear Editor:
“Gold Bugs” (February 2005, page 10) is a very interesting article. If you were writing about “silver bugs,” would the same issues arise? The commodities markets seem to paint them with the same brush, despite the fact that their supply/demand relationships are vastly different. Both gold and silver qualify as hard assets that endure the centuries. But—and this is a big but—the industrial demand and the continued condition of a much greater open interest on the [New York Mercantile Exchange] than available and foreseeable supply, would seem to support the thesis that gold and silver are very different and should be treated as vastly different speculations.

E. M. Wright, CPA, RIA
Mission, Kan.

Dear Editor:
I read with interest your comments in “Gold Bugs.” I suppose all investments are bets on supply and demand conditions. It is clear that the supply of gold cannot be expanded at will. Demand in this case, however, can wildly escalate when driven by a loss of confidence in financial assets. Historically, gold represents a safe haven when there is financial turmoil. It has intrinsic value, not as a typical commodity where it is a consumable, but as lasting purchasing power during both inflationary and deflationary periods. It makes sense to have a position in a well-diversified portfolio.

David T. Ting
Boston, Mass.

Worth welcomes your comments, critiques and suggestions. Please direct your letters to letters@worth.com.

Special Care for Special Needs
Dear Editor:
Danna Voth’s article “Best Intentions” (December 2004, page 118) addresses a very important topic. As a concerned sibling of a mentally ill brother, I have become very involved in his daily life and future care plans. Recently my family established two special needs trusts on his behalf.

Although I don’t claim to be an expert on the topic, I have consulted with a number of attorneys to better understand these trusts, and I believe your article may not have provided some important, basic information. It should be noted that the trust money can never be used for food, clothing or shelter. While I find this criteria a bit ridiculous, it is nonetheless a fact that these necessities are supposed to be provided by the meager government benefits. So when you make reference in your article to restaurants, I question your accuracy.

Also, readers should be made aware of the fact that there exists an additional type of special needs trust which is self-funded and equally as important. What happens if a well-meaning but uninformed friend or relative gives or wills assets to the disabled child? In a case like this, instead of the child losing his government benefits, he can transfer these assets into this self-funded trust. It functions similarly to the trust described in your article, but upon the disabled child’s death, the government (Medicaid) is entitled to reimburse itself for all the benefits it provided during the lifetime of the child. This self-funded trust must be established by the parents during their lifetime (not in their wills). Please share this important information with your readers.

Leslee Rudnick
Boston, Mass.

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Screwed the Pooch
Dear Editor:

I have just read “Dogged Determination” (October 2004, page 40), which I find most objectionable. Worth’s objective, I suppose, is to improve one’s wealth or position, but to encourage or promote dog breeding as a means to that end is unconscionable. Having worked with shelters for over 35 years, I have seen the end result of the breeding of pet animals. The millions of lives that are snuffed out because—through no fault of their own—they are not wanted, is a tragedy.

I will not go into all the gory facts and figures on the animal overpopulation problem, but by publishing that article, you have intentionally or unintentionally added to the situation. Please be more enlightened when you promote “opportunities” in the future.

Lew Seidenberg, DVM
Grayslake, Ill.

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