Gingrich Campaign Press Release - "Gingrich Praises Reagan During Speech at Eureka"

Newt spoke to Eureka College, Ronald Reagan's alma mater, on Saturday:

EUREKA -- Newly declared Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich used his visit to Eureka College on Saturday to praise the conservative legacy of President Ronald Reagan and call for decentralizing Social Security and Medicaid.

The former U.S. House speaker told Eureka College graduates Saturday that their alma mater was one of the most influential institutions of the late 20th century because of its association with Reagan.

"The collapse of the Soviet Union began here in 1928," he said in his address at the college's 150th commencement ceremony. "The resurrection of general economics and the development of American economic growth and jobs for 25 years began here when Dutch Reagan took a degree in economics and sociology."

In a news conference after the ceremony, the former Georgia congressman said he has urged the House's Social Security subcommittee to hold hearings around the country - and allow testimony only from people under age 30.

"Let the generation that has the biggest long-term stake in Social Security reform come to grips with their lifetime, their future, the mathematics of their retirement," Gingrich said. "Let them give you ideas. I think you'd have a whole new conversation that wouldn't resemble any of the current partisan bickering in Washington."

The Social Security system was designed when there were 42 workers for every person receiving benefits and now that is three workers for each benefit recipient, he said.

"A retirement program designed when the average person died at 62 can't possibly make sense when people live to 90 or 100," he said.

He called for replacing the current system with personal retirement accounts "so you can build up the time value of your money for your entire lifetime."

The full article: http://m.pantagraph.com/news/local/education/article_1e53e5a6-7e79-11e0-...?