Because Social Security is specifically designed to boost the retirement income of low earners with a progressive benefit formula, the program has played an enormous and necessary role in keeping Latinas out of poverty.
If Congress doesn't raise taxes, you cannot get a private investment account without forgoing a portion, possibly all, of your guaranteed benefit check.
A Congressional Budget Office report released as recent as June 2004 says the system will be able to pay full benefits until 2052, and 80 percent after that.
Almost half of all Latinas currently on Social Security rely exclusively on their benefit check in retirement.
Today, those disabled while working receive benefit. Under the president's plan, those benefits would be drastically cut or possibly eliminated.