I agree with Gordon L. Shadle (Letters, Nov. 4) about the $250 payment to seniors. The problem is that people will confuse the issues. Some will blame Social Security, and some will blame me if I appear to be against giving money to impoverished seniors.

I would say that if seniors need the money, give it to them, but not in the name of Social Security. Or if the cost of living adjustment for Social Security needs to be refigured to reflect the actual costs to seniors, then do that. But don't give people a cost of living raise because the "cost of living" did not go up. That is nonsense.

Some people who receive Social Security checks do not need the boost. Giving it to them not only turns Social Security into welfare - which it is not meant to be - but creates the perverse situation of giving welfare to people who don't need it.

Caution: Because Social Security is not welfare, there is nothing wrong with the well-off receiving Social Security checks. They paid for their benefits; it's their own money being given back to them. But the "boost" is not their own money.

The problem is not Social Security. The problem is that our elected leaders, of both parties, do not think too clearly. Or they actively want to discredit Social Security, and get people used to thinking of it as "welfare," which it is not, and was never meant to be.

Dale Coberly, Corvallis