Two families, two views on Social Security

When the president takes his case for Social Security reform before the nation Wednesday night, Jim Greenan could probably finish George W. Bush's sentences for him. The system is heading toward ruin. Changes must be made. Americans must get control of their money.

To this father of eight, Social Security is the safety net he never counted on, so anything Mr. Bush can do to keep it in good health for him - or his children - can only be a good thing.

To John and Kathryn Swackhamer, however, Wednesday night could signal the beginning of a disaster. Their daughter has already been seared by the stock market once while planning for retirement, and many of their friends look to Social Security not as a bonus but as a lifeline.

The Greenans and the Swackhamers represent two sides of what could become the biggest domestic policy debate of the Bush presidency. Many of the dividing lines are obvious and well known, from age or address to party affiliation. But in these communities, where the bustle of the Bay Area downshifts into more modest suburbs, perhaps the clearest line is drawn by something altogether more basic: expectation.

For those who have long looked at Social Security with a skeptical eye - and often made other retirement plans because of it - reforms are an unlooked-for gift that puts their money in the best of all places: their own hands. For those who have come to count on Social Security - either because of ideology or necessity - reforms threaten to undermine the very reason the system exists: security.

Between the opposite poles of Greenans and Swackhamers, the reformers and defenders of the Social Security status quo, teeters a nation uncertain, concerned about Social Security, but still unsure about the scope of the problem - or what the remedy is.

"What they're worried about is whether they'll end up getting less as a result of all this," says retirement planner Richard Del Monte of his clients in the Bay Area. "They don't know what to believe."

That's understandable. According to the rhetoric of Capitol Hill, Social Security is either an elaborate pyramid scheme that will inevitably crash or a reasonably healthy program that is being exploited by an administration intent on destroying the welfare state.

Mr. Greenan makes no secret of where his opinions lie: "I've always looked at it as a false promise."

Those words would perhaps seem more appropriate coming from his son-in-law, a 30-something employee in the financial industry. Jeffery Wycoff sits next to his father-in-law in the spotless Greenan living room this evening, answering questions with the thoroughness and detail of a grad student defending his thesis. Polls suggest that younger Americans have less confidence in Social Security and are more open to reform - and that fits Mr. Wycoff.

Talking of actuarial tables and the birthrates of industrialized nations, he suggests that there simply aren't enough working Americans to support retirees, who are living increasingly longer. "It is a system that is going to die anyway," says Wycoff. "This might prolong it a little bit."

There is a youthful flair in his exuberance, as he talks animatedly while Greenan occasionally interjects, calm and steady. Yet the substance of their comments is the same. Even for a man nearing 60, who has raised eight children - including a daughter who is only 14 - Greenan is essentially willing to write off Social Security. And so are others.

"My clients don't have confidence that Social Security will be there as a benefit for them," says Leonard Heller of Nationwide Financial Network in Walnut Creek, Calif.

For his part, Greenan has done his homework. Here on the Bay Area's suburban fringe, where houses bend around cul-de-sacs with brick walkways and perfectly swept curbs, it becomes apparent that he is not one to leave things up in the air. A lawyer by profession, Greenan will be secure with or without Social Security, so the thought that he - or his son-in-law - might get some money in a private account is almost like a stocking on the mantel.

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